Artists
Artist: Naomi Henkel-Guembel
Naomi Henkel-Guembel grew up in Germany before immigrating to Israel. She holds a degree in psychology from the IDC Herzliya, is a trained therapist, and an aspiring rabbi. For years, Naomi has been involved with community development in Tel Aviv and Berlin. She co-initiated the Festival of Resilience, which is held jointly with other survivors of and those affected by right-wing extremist attacks, as well as activists inside and outside of the Jewish community.
Artist: Stuart Acker Holt
Stuart Acker Holt is a British born film-maker and journalist based in Amsterdam.
After studying Music at University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Stuart went on to lecture in Film Music at Chichester University. During this time he created the ‘Expressing Computers’ lecture series with film-makers and composers presenting live audio-visual work. This opened the doors to inspiring partnerships and creative collaborations in photography and film. In 2020 he released his new film For The Record, which was selected for the Crystal Palace International Film Festival in London, as well as festivals in Berlin and The Hague. Aside from Stuart’s creative projects he teaches journalism at Fontys University in Tilburg.
Artist: Niv Cohen
Niv Cohen (1980) is an Amsterdam based artist, born and raised in Tel Aviv. His work consists of sculptures that are assembled from discarded items and collages made of his own sketches. His art deals with critical questions around Judaism, minority groups in society and in/exclusion of the other.
Artist: Jacqueline Nicholls
Jacqueline Nicholls is a London based visual artist, visual poet and educator whose art practice engages with traditional Jewish texts using a variety of media. She is interested in handwriting as a form of drawing, the relationship with writing and bookhood, language and our bodies. She’s interested in the emotional affect when writing and speech collapse into illegibility and silence, and yet still call to be read and heard. Her Draw Yomi project, she followed the daf yomi cycle of learning a page of talmud a day, and responded with a daily drawing. She has an MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins, London. Jacqueline’s work is held in public (ANU Museum Tel Aviv, Israel, Ben Uri Gallery London, UK, John Rylands Library Manchester, UK) and private collections.
Artist: Ali Shrago-Spechler
Ali Shrago-Spechler is an interdisciplinary artist whose installations, paintings and performances examine the malleability of history and imagined community. Her hybrid actions explore the comedy, violence and ubiquity of Jewish histories while creating a familiar and strange space for her audience. Ali is a Fulbright Scholar (Germany 2020-21) and the recipient of the Naomi Anolic Emerging Artist Award. She has participated in residencies at Mass MoCA, ProjectArt in Crown Heights, Art Kibbutz NY, Vermont Studio Center, Art Cube Artist Studios in Jerusalem and Trestle Artist Space. Her work has been featured in the NY Times, Time Out NY, VICE, The Forward, New Times Broward, The Miami Herald and ArtNet News. She received her BFA in Painting and Art History from Pratt Institute and her MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
Artist: Yael Roberts
Yael Roberts is an artist and educator living and working in London. In her studio, she prints from found objects to create large-scale installations exploring nature, myth, and place. She loves learning and teaching chassidut and bringing its relevance to the times we find ourselves in and to the creative process.
Artist: Sandra Yerushalmi
Sandra is inspired by many cultural international influences: her Sephardic Jewish identity, her trips in India, and her international encounters bring her to incorporate Hebrew calligraphy, Indian mandalas or North African arts in her artwork.
Both a Jewish professional and an activist, Sandra is a member of ROI Community, Paideia, Moishe House, Yesod Community Institute, etc.
Artist: Jérôme Avraham Benarroch
Born in 1977 in Paris Dr. Jérôme Avraham Benarroch, is a professor of philosophy and Talmud, lecturing at Paris-Cité University. His photography has been presented at Maison Contemporain.
Artist: Andrea Ausztrics
Andrea Ausztrics is a creative producer and curator with a background in Culture Anthropology and Art Theory with a specialization in Film Studies, she also holds a PhD in Social History. Since 2003 she has worked across several production roles on her way to become an independent producer and artistic director. In 2018 she established aula.co, a collaboration-based interdisciplinary art project that mainly creates zines and prints.
Artist: Joel Itman
Welcome to the singular world of Joel Itman. It’s a realm populated with characters – human, animal and imaginary – that share a universal sense of humanity in its best representation. The vibrant colors, fluid lines and often fantastic shapes in his art channel a liveliness that's organic and celebratory yet naïve.
Itman was born in Minneapolis, in the Upper Midwest region of the United States. He studied art and cinema in Minneapolis, Paris and New York, and has lived and worked in Italy for more than twenty-five years.
His Jewish upbringing and education have been highly influential, with his work elevating and placing that influence in a modern context. Yet he also has a more worldly point of view that can result in surprising juxtapositions and unexpected harmony.
Itman creates diverse original works, from colored pencil drawings on paper and painted ceramic tiles to stained glass windows. During the past fifteen years he has participated in individual and group shows in Italy, France and the USA.
Many of his original artworks are adapted to practical and decorative use in magnets, greeting cards, T-shirts, home décor and fine art prints. These pieces can be found in numerous museum gift shops and stores in Europe, the United States and Israel.
"When I create art one of my goals is to entertain the public, giving a sense of happiness and leaving them with a smile. Humor and irony are also an important element in my life and conveying that is essential."