Tal Mazliach: War Decorations
Tel Aviv Museum of Art marks one year to the events of 7 October, with an exhibition by Tal Mazliach, laureate of the 2009 Rappaport Prize for an Established Israeli Artist, which centers on a new series of paintings titled War Decorations 23–24.
Using her familiar colorful, compact style and a world of symbolic, personal images, Tal Mazliach depicts her harrowing experiences from 7 October, when she was besieged for over 20 hours at her home in kibbutz Kfar Aza – until she was rescued by the IDF Shaldag Unit.
Born in Kfar Aza, Mazliach has been dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the existential threat for over 25 years. A sense of constant restlessness imbues these complex paintings, featuring the flickering and tangled work that is formed through a unique technique developed by Mazliach: short brushstrokes that create repetitive rhythms. Mazliach embeds words ("Rescued"), sentences ("They are surrounding me from all sides") and short stories in her work, which she repeats over and over like chilling mantras. They merge into a lexicon of images combining self-portraits, weapons and hands in an emotive, layered and pictorial world.
Tal Mazliach, Untitled (War Decorations), 2024
Oil on wood, 120×120 cm
Courtesy the artist and Alon Segev Gallery, Tel Aviv
Photo: Elad Sarig