The exhibition, curated by Tama Krudo-Weiss, marks the third chapter in the “Life, After All” series, following successful debuts in Płock last summer and Otwock in 2022 (Poland). This is the first joint exhibition for Blum and Cieśniewski in Israel.

The project takes place thanks to the cooperation and support of many institutions, including the POLIN Museum in Warsaw, the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Israel, the Polish Institute in Tel Aviv and many social activists from Poland involved in the commemoration of the history of Polish Jews and their heritage.

The opening of the exhibition will take place on Thursday, May 2 at 19:00 at the President Hotel Gallery in Jerusalem. The exhibition will be available to the public until June 13.

Address: 3 Ahad Ha’am St., Jerusalem

Free entrance

For invitation and openinghttps hours of the gallery

To listen to the special episode of the podcast channel of the Polish Institute "Hachmey Polin", dedicated to the exhibition and the story of Aviva Blum and Vojtek Cieśniewski

In one of his paintings, Cieśniewski painted three girls sitting in the Jewish orphanage that was established after the war in the town of Otwock, where a large Jewish community lived before the war. He called the painting “The Spring of the Nation”. The 14-year-old girl holding a cat in her hands is Aviva Blum. By a rare coincidence, she found out about the painting of the Polish artist. “I’m alive, and I’m also an artist,” Blum wrote to Vojtek Cieśniewski. Since then, for two years, the artists have been connected by an extraordinary artistic bond and friendship strengthened by shared moral values, concern for a human kind.

In the exhibition, Vojtek Cieśniewski will present two new paintings created after the events of October 7, 2023: “A girl running away from the darkness” which corresponds to the Israeli women soldiers who had warned and their voices were not heard, and also the girls who danced in the Nova party in the Negev desert and in one moment retreated to save their lives. A portrait of Alex Dancyg, born in Warsaw, a respected historian and expert on Polish culture and the pioneer of the Israeli youth delegations to Poland. Alex was kidnapped from his home in kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 and is being held captive by Hamas. Vojtek was inspired by the story of Alex, who as part of his work taught young students, among other things, also about Polish culture.

The exhibition brings out a unique view of artists dealing with unbearable realities. 80 years have passed since World War II and now in the present, Blum and Cieśniewski each hold different artistic tools, in order to deal with the same painful history. Blum paints nature and Cieśniewski paints humanity.