Another Madonna controversy in Israel

September 4, 2009 - 8:10 AM by David · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Art, General, Israeliness, Religion

art madonna We just can’t seem to get enough of Madonna here – even when we’re not referring to the singer. The latest ‘Madonna’ controversy broke on Thursday when a Tel Aviv art exhibit depicting various female Palestinian suicide bombers as the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus caused an uproar.

The exhibit at Beit Sokolov, which houses the Israeli Journalists Association, was quickly taken down following an outcry from the families of those killed or wounded in the attacks, as well as by organizations that represent terror victims.

According to media reports, the exhibit, which featured the work of local artists Galina Bleich and Liliah Check, consisted of a series of paintings of the women – some with halos around their heads – rendered to look like Renaissance-era portraits of Catholic saints.

The artists defended their work on Thursday, with Bleich telling Ynet that she didn’t understand how the exhibit was misconstrued as glorifying suicide bombers.

“I don’t understand how this turned into an insult to bereaved families. We came actually to emphasize the exact opposite. The baby in Madonna’s hands is in danger. This really needs to disturb people. It isn’t just an Israeli problem, but a global one. Therefore, we chose Madonna, who is a symbol of Christianity.

“This issue came up for me after I personally experienced a trauma when I was next to a terror attack on French Hill in Jerusalem. Ever since, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It isn’t at all a political issue, but a personal issue. We are trying to ask how a woman, who is meant to love and give birth, became a source of hatred and murder. I don’t at all go into politics. But because we are such a political country, everyone is trying to figure out if we are left-wing or not,” explained Bleich.

“I hope it will all be okay this evening. If it impacts people so much, this means that the message is getting across. We wanted to think together with the audience about what is happening, and, apparently, now they are reflecting on it. Modern art can speak in a free language without a framework. Modern art is actually a language that shakes up the subjects that are painful to us. It’s not only flowers in a vase. Art asks questions and doesn’t provide answers,” said Bleich.

However, not everybody agreed with that assessment. The Jerusalem Post reported that Dalit Levy, whose 17-year-old stepdaughter Rachel was killed in a suicide bombing as she shopped at the Supersol supermarket in Jerusalem’s Kiryat Hayovel neighborhood on March 29, 2002, along with the store’s security guard, Haim Smadar, 55, arrived outside Sokolov House on Thursday afternoon with an Israeli flag draped over her shoulders, and placed plastic sheeting on the sidewalk.

“You want art?” she asked a group of reporters who had gathered around her. “Here’s art!” she said, before spilling a can of red paint next to a photograph of her stepdaughter and two memorial candles. “This is the blood of our children!”

Almagor, The Association for Terror Victims in Israel, also issued a stern response to the exhibit, and threatened to take legal action if the portraits were not taken down.
“Nahum Sokolov [for whom Sokolov House is named] is rolling in his grave today,” Almagor’s chairman, Meir Indor, told The Post.

There was no word on what the real Madonna, sightseeing in Jordn yesterday, had to say about her namesake’s controversy.

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