Artist Shlomit Levy Bard’s photography exhibition, “(RE)Defining Zionism: Portraits and Perspectives from a Post-October 7 Israel,” captures the complexity of what Zionism means in the aftermath of Oct. 7, challenges simplified narratives and highlights the diversity of Israeli society.
Currently on display at Hillel at UCLA, the exhibit is as much a storytelling exhibit as it is a photography display. Photographs of a cross-section of Israelis from all backgrounds and walks of life are surrounded by quotes handwritten on the frames of each photograph. The quotes are from each photographed individual, discussing what Zionism means to them.
More than 60 Israelis, including ordinary citizens and well-known figures, are portrayed in the exhibition. Some proudly identify as Zionist. Others declare themselves “anti-Zionists.” Some rebuke the question altogether, saying circumstances demand that Israel make peace with its neighbors regardless of one’s ideology or political beliefs.
Among those pictured in the thought-provoking display is Basma Hino, a Druze woman and restauranteur. Since Oct. 7, Hino has prepared meals for Israel Defense Forces soldiers. When Hino learned that many of the soldiers couldn’t eat her food since it wasn’t kosher, she sought out kosher certification for her restaurant.
Hino’s story, Levy Bard said during an event at her exhibit hosted by OpenDor Media on May 28, was “one of my favorite stories here.”
Another image in the exhibit depicts an ultra-Orthodox IDF soldier who makes handcrafts out of the shrapnel from rockets launched into Israel. Another shows a young woman who’s framed by a quote that reads, ”I grew up in a religious Zionist home, as one of six siblings. But I don’t know what to think about Zionism now.”
Another image features a woman whose head is covered. She’s dressed in modest clothing. The quote running alongside the photograph reads, “I’m a Zionist. My grandfather was an ultra-Orthodox underground fighter, and my grandmother grew up in Jerusalem. My other grandparents were Holocaust survivors.”
And yet an image hanging nearby features an older bespectacled man, a biochemist, encircled by a quote that says, “I’m an anti-Zionist. I don’t believe that countries have the right to exist; people have the right to exist.”
Levy Bard described the display as a “traveling exhibit,” one with educational goals. She hopes the exhibit, as it travels to different universities, can be accompanied by a curriculum.
Levy Bard is originally from Israel and currently lives in Los Angeles. In capturing these images, she traveled across her native country, including in Haifa, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Beersheva and the Gaza border.
“We were dragging around a studio and studio equipment and setting up in all kinds of random places, in some cases in the middle of a dirt field, and in some cases in somebody’s house, and driving all over Israel,” she said.
She worked closely with Anushka Hauerstock, a recent LA transplant from Israel who produced the exhibit. In many cases, Hauerstock introduced Levy Bard to those pictured in the exhibit.
“The first question that people usually have for me is, ‘How did I find all these people.’ In some cases, they were people who I was connected with, some of them on social media, and in some cases I was able to find them through my producer, Anushka,” Levy Bard said.
Others photographed include ZAKA volunteer Avichai Amusi as well as an Ethiopian Israeli woman whose very existence, Levy Bard said, challenges the idea of Israel being a Eurocentric, homogenous society.
“Basically, the goal was to photograph a wide cross-section of Israelis talking about what Zionism is, so that’s the question I came with,” Levy Bard said. “There’s a huge variety of perspectives that are presented here, and a huge diversity in who these people are and what they believe.”
For the photographer, some of the most gratifying exchanges have been with those who learned about a facet of Israeli society that had previously been unknown to them, including that there are Black Jews living in Israel.
Since the exhibit debuted at Hillel at UCLA, various educational events have taken place in the gallery space housing Levy Bard’s photographs. The recent event on May 28 was hosted by OpenDor Media, a nonprofit that produces videos and social media content about Israel, Zionism and Judaism.
The centerpiece of the recent event — a panel that examined the role of social media in the current debates around anti-Zionism and antisemitism — featured Eden Cohen, head of social and website at OpenDor Media; Matthew Nouriel, community engagement director at JIMENA: Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa; and Emmy-nominated Jewish journalist Jacki Karsh.
Levy Bard’s exhibit remains open at Hillel at UCLA through June 13, Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., and by appointment June 13-August 15.
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