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At the conclusion of Zeni Rosenstain’s sixth birthday celebration, the war reached the doorstep of her home in Chernivtsi, Ukraine (then Romania). 85 years afterwards a duo exhibition opens, bringing into dialogue two realities shaped by artists from distant generations. These realities converge through a deeply human encounter and a shared drive to create.

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The exhibition connects the work of Rosenstain (b. 1935), a painter and writer, Holocaust survivor, who over the past 25 years - alongside psychological therapy - has devoted herself to engaging with personal memory and trauma through painting and writing, and Tal Levy (b. 1995), a painter and filmmaker, graduate of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design (2021) and the MFA program in Documentary Film at Tel Aviv University (2026), who defines herself as a diarist of the reality of her life.  The connection between the two began two years ago within the activity of the “Culture of Solidarity” association, following Levy’s outreach as a volunteer. Rosenstain, who maintains a wide circle of volunteers around her, recognized Levy as a partner for painting and for conversations about past pain and everyday life. Their meetings quickly evolved into a deep relationship of friendship, creation and ongoing dialogue, grounded in a shared space of trust.

 

The relationship between them is reciprocal. Levy learns from Rosenstain about resilience, endurance and a non-self-evident optimism while Rosenstain continues to create, reveal and articulate her story through Levy’s gaze, as Levy gathers her testimonies with the understanding that the present is an urgent and fragile raw material. As Dori Laub argues, testimony is not a one-directional act; it requires a listener in order to exist. Through her presence and commitment Levy functions as a partner in the formation of the testimony that is inscribed in real time through their encounters, from which Levy collects video material.

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The exhibition is structured around three central axes: A series of paintings by Rosenstain depicting memories from the Holocaust from a personal and unmediated perspective; A body of painting works by Levy created during the current war since October 7, echoing experiences of anxiety, injustice, and instability while simultaneously reflecting a search for grounding; And a collaborative documentary film that reveals working processes and functions as a video testimony from the bed, addressing Rosenstain’s life story - then and now.

The film, shot in her apartment in Tel Aviv, touches on her late-life career as an artist and Holocaust survivor of the Mogilev-Podolsky camp, her experiences selling artworks and the story of the one painting she will never sell. This painting - created in a toilet stall at the age of seven while in the camp - was preserved by her mother after the war and their immigration to Israel and was given to her when she was twenty. Alongside the exposure of Rosenstain’s personal trauma, she and Levy wander through islands of romance, the search for love and the possibility of emerging from depression through creative action, while contemplating in wonder countless certificates of recognition. The film is accompanied by songs written by Rosenstain and composed with AI with the help of one of the volunteers - songs that hold both comfort and the expression of difficult emotions, yet are voiced through a machine.

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Rosenstain’s paintings draw on a naïve mode of expression; similarly, her autobiographical book is written from a childlike perspective. “She writes the way I film,” says Levy, who identifies with Rosenstain’s direct, unembellished and immediate style. In painting as well, both rarely use brushes, instead working directly from the tube onto the surface, often using their fingers. Levy’s paintings, some of which belong to the series “If I Paint the Fire, I Probably Wasn’t There”, depict turbulent scenes that follow stories she has encountered online - such as the fires in the Jerusalem hills - as well as events to which she has a personal connection. Among these is the story of Rio, the dog - the sole survivor of a training facility for dangerous dogs that burned down - whom she adopted and with whom she shares a bond shaped by separation anxiety. The works of both artists engage with questions of personal versus collective memory, which arise in their dialogue.

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The exhibition seeks to open a space in which a dialogue unfolds between past and present, between memory and living testimony and between solitude and companionship. It is a space where experiences are not merely archival, but materialize as an ongoing act of creation. According to Nicolas Bourriaud, art emerges from human interaction; accordingly, the relationship woven between Levy and Rosenstain serves as raw material for creation - rooted in intimacy and revealing the vulnerability of both artists.

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Opening Hours: 09:00–20:00

The exhibition is made possible thanks to the Tel Aviv–Yafo Municipality 

and the Beit Tami Community Center

Exhibition Management: Beit Tami Team