Bring back the Light
Group Exhibition / Women of Kibbutz Be’eri
This exhibition is the work of a group of women who survived the massacre at Kibbutz Be’eri, who created for nine months in a visual diary using the “Pages of the Soul” method, initiated and guided by Rakefet Hadar.
In this creative method, deep emotional processes can be expressed and processed, through color, image and word.
The group of women created within personal journals, which enabled them to touch their inner world, which underwent such a severe upheaval, in safe conditions and with supportive accompaniment.
The visual journal, as a secret-keeping archetype, gave them a place to which they cast the most intimate contents and thus freed them from the need to carry on their hearts all that they had gone through, from the October 7th.
Into the SoulPages they unpacked experiences, sensations, emotions, images, and in the process strengthened their souls with dreams, hopes, and hope.
In preparation for the exhibition, each artist selected several pages from her personal journal, which she wanted to share with the audience. The artists also agreed to reveal the original journals themselves and allow viewers to view them.
It is a moving tribute that plucks at the heartstrings of us all, and in these troubling days is full of hope for healing, unity and peace.
Curators: Yael Margalit and Rakefet Hadar
Photographer:Venezian- Heftig Studio
On the Exhibition
The Be’eri women were introduced to the visual journal through their friends Anat Tavori and Orit Swirsky, who established a SoulPages Visual Journaling group in Be’eri in 2018.
The original group consisted of seven women, three of whom were murdered on Black Saturday: Orit Swirsky, Maayana Hershkovitz and Mazi Bahar.
Fornine months, the women of Be’eri worked through their visual journals to express their longing, the fear that never lets go, the severe pain of loosing their loved ones and the desire for small moments of forgetfulness, of devotion to materials and working together.
Together they created a group, a community of women that became a support for each other, a group in which one can both speak and be silent, one can cry, one can also rejoice, and above all – one can play for a moment with colors, images, lines and discover surprising things.
Their SoulPages are built on seven simple elements: intent, the magic of chance, background, color, image, line and text.
Next to the art works you will find words that each wrote about her work, words that describe her feelings.
The artists participating in the exhibition are: Orit Swirsky, Ella Greenstein, Batya Segev, Hadas Sagi, Vered Gold, Hamutal Hargil, Hannah Brin, Talia Dvory, Yochi Alon, Leah Kapitanov, Michal Cohen, Mazi Bachar , Maayana Hershkovitz , Anat Tavori, Ferach Filo, Perula Gas, Pnina Avni, Anat Tavori, Aliza Gad, Tzipi Zorea, Rivka Bira and Shoshka Steinhardt.
The exhibition that was held in the Dead Sea in June 24
What is the Visual Journal?
10 years ago I discovered the visual journal and it changed my life, brought joy into it and connected me to a fountain of creativity that was buried inside waiting to be discovered!
I developed the SoulPages method in order to enable as many people as possible to recognize the power of creation, to connect us to passion, joy of life and healing powers.
My method consists of seven simple elements: intent, the magic of chance, background, images, color, line, and text.
Over the past year, SoulPages facilitators and I have reached hundreds of evacuated women and survivors of the October 7th massacre and brought them the healing inherent in the SoulPages processes through the “Bring back the Light” project. This exhibition opens a window into the inner world of the survivors of the massacre and reveals the strength and hope in the work of creation during war time.
Rakefet Hadar
Short Movies about the process