ANU Museum of the Jewish People

ANU: Expressing grief and hope through art and music

ANU Museum of the Jewish People

ANU: Expressing grief and hope through art and music

The ANU Museum’s mission is all encompassing: to present the collective narrative—to tell the stories—of the global Jewish community. October 7 represents the newest chapter and, as you will read, the latest oscillation in the 3,700 year saga. 

Chapters:

ANU: Expressing grief and hope through art and music
Sep 2024 | Jewish Peoplehood
“No Title” (Detail), Jonathan Chazon

People have many ways to mourn. Channeling grief into creativity—by making something that can be seen, or heard, or read—can be comforting and healing. And for the viewer, the listener, the reader, these expressions can be equally moving. In the weeks following October 7, ANU curator Michal Houminer and independent curator Carmit Blumensohn assembled and installed a temporary exhibition at the museum, a visual commentary on the Hamas attacks and their aftermath. October Seventh: A Space of Anguish, Loss, Anger, Memory and Sorrow showcases the work of 25 Israeli artists. Some pieces are reactions to the attacks, and several are earlier works by artists who were killed on October 7 or died subsequently. As Houminer observes, “Artists are given to uniquely responding to and portraying the events of the day, interpreting and articulating our collective memory.”

The family of Jonathan Chazon, the 33rd Israeli soldier killed in the conflict following October 7, was deeply touched to have their son’s artwork, and his legacy, honored at ANU.

An installation in the lobby at ANU introduces visitors to Inbar Haiman, a young graffiti artist who signed her work PINK, a color she loved for its optimism. A student at the NB Haifa School of Design, Inbar volunteered at the Nova Music Festival and was taken hostage by Hamas. Her death in captivity was announced on December 16.

A short video montage made by Inbar Haiman’s friends is part of the exhibition; even if you don’t speak Hebrew, you can sense Inbar’s aliveness, until you see the stark pink graffiti painted alongside the highway: FREE PINK.

A wall panel in the lobby at ANU, showing Inbar Haiman (known as PINK) at work.

Houminer and Blumensohn also compiled a playlist of songs to represent the collective voice of the Israeli people. Titled The Pain Front, it presents the music of over 20 Israeli musicians and groups. Houminer comments, “The exhibition’s soundtrack is comprised of songs we have heard since October 7. Many are familiar songs that the war has charged with new meaning.” You can listen to the soundtrack on Spotify, and even if you can’t understand the words, the music and the voices are wistful, hopeful, heartfelt. 

Logo for the October Seventh exhibition at the ANU Museum.
"Breathing” by Oren Fischer. The artist has two additional pieces in the exhibition. As part of his personal struggle after October 7, Fischer drew in his diary every day and uploaded it to the web. The illustrations are based on images from the war and his reaction to it, made to keep the hostages front and center in the news.
“Binding” by Leeor Shtainer. This work and another by Shtainer, titled “Attending,” were created in memory of her two nieces—Roya and Noel Manzouri—who were murdered in the massacre at the Nova Musical Festival.

ANU has developed two ways of extending the exhibition’s reach. A 45-minute online tour of the installation is narrated in English by a museum educator. A two-minute preview shows the scale and gravitas of the exhibition. A capsule version of the exhibition is also available for installation—a set of high-resolution files that organizations can print out and mount to present October Seventh in their own communities, with the option of using the playlist to deepen the experience.

In June, the Jewish Culture Festival in Kraków (a longtime Koret grantee) displayed the capsule version of October Seventh throughout the week-long festival. Robert Gadek, the festival’s deputy director, recalls, “When the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is one of our funders, told us that October Seventh at ANU could be exhibited anywhere in the world, it was obvious to us that we wanted to do this. We installed it in the High Synagogue, next to our main festival venue, and we played the soundtrack ANU had made in a continuous loop.” Gadek adds, “We follow the activities of ANU, and we are planning a closer collaboration with them.”

Robert Gadek, deputy director of the Jewish Culture Festival in Kraków, reflects on the October Seventh exhibition’s impact, “For many visitors, the exhibit was very emotional. We decided not to take any photos while visitors were in the exhibit—so we didn’t disturb them.”
The brick walls of this room on the ground floor of the High Synagogue in Kraków add historical resonance to the exhibition. Upper: Be’eri, 7.10.23 by Nil and Karen Romano. Lower: Breathing by Oren Fischer.
A wall plaque tells viewers a bit about each artist’s life (and death). This one reads: “Eviatar (Tari) Kipnis was murdered at Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7. He had many talents: he founded a beer brewery and a meteorological station with a large telescope, planted coffee trees, rode bikes, and rowed kayaks. He began painting after a serious disease impaired his mobility.” May his artworks bring beauty to those who mourn—and perhaps comfort in imagining that Tari’s spirit is now free as a bird.

The October Seventh exhibition opened at ANU at the end of February 2024; no closing date has been scheduled.