In her tenth solo exhibition, Ora Brill unveils a compelling collection of new works from recent years, showcased in the main space of Maya Gallery. This exhibition features multiple interconnected bodies of work that resonate with and reflect upon one another.
The past two years have been marked by profound personal and national challenges for Brill. While grappling with a serious medical condition at home and worrying about her sons’ reserve service in the Gaza war, she—like all of us—was deeply affected by the massacre of the Seven of October 2023 and the ongoing anguish surrounding the kidnapped and their families. These experiences have shaped a broad and intricate creative process, expressed through diverse mediums in both two and three dimensions, ranging from intimate pieces to monumental works.
Recurring motifs in Brill’s visual language—such as pomegranate seeds, archetypal house forms, and precariously collapsing buildings—are joined by new imagery: the moon in its phases and eclipses, stones, perforated structures, beads reminiscent of Christian rosaries and Islamic 'Sabha', and garments like undershirts. These elements often emerge against dark backgrounds of earthy brown or midnight blue, with a growing emphasis on red and blue hues.
The vivid red and depictions of underwear first appeared in a poignant series titled The Anemone’s Blood and the Stain of the Crocus, created and exhibited last year in memory of a young woman from Brill’s village who was murdered at the Nova party. While those smaller works conveyed an immediate outpouring of grief, the larger paintings in this exhibition reflect a deeper internalization—an intellectual and emotional effort to process and comprehend the events of that time. The imagery is more symbolic and subtle; colors are contained rather than eruptive, and each painting attempts to construct a narrative while holding together its disparate elements.
A more complete narrative, inspired by the myth of Persephone, also emerged during this period in the form of a captivating artist’s book. Comprising 75 original paintings, the book allegorically recounts Persephone’s abduction to the underworld, echoing the events in Gaza beginning on October 7, 2023. This limited, signed edition is currently in production and will be launched soon.