"Not anybody's doll"

The exhibition was organized by The Forum of Art Museums and was exhibited throughout 2005-2006 at The Bat-Yam Art Museum, The Yanko-Dada Museum at Ein Hod, The Kfar Saba Municipal Gallery and The Rehovot Municipal Gallery. Curator: Galit Semel.

The exhibition evolves around the representation of the woman as expressed by the doll image in contemporary Israeli art. Similar to the doll, which is assembled from many intertwined joints that make it a whole functional reality, so is a woman's life made of many joints and roles, intertwining and taking many forms and faces, some convergent and some contradictory, a blend of the possible and the impossible.

The mold of the doll is used as a mirror carrying through the common perceptions regarding women and femininity. The representation of the doll, like that of the woman, is actualized according to accepted clichיs: woman-icon, an object for display, a quiet stereotypical figure fixing Men's gaze at her, a sexual or erotic object. The doll is like clay in the hands of the artist. She is also a pawn subject to changes made by a male patriarchal society. The woman's body, like the doll's body, is in someone else's possession. The inert state of the doll is a reflection of society's reductive treatment of the woman. The doll's body as a field of action is parallel to a woman's body, carrying the signs of the struggle for freedom and thus becoming a symbol. The doll does not have a freedom of choice or will, while the woman can choose, grow and struggle for her freedom.

The examination of the issues the exhibition arises was performed on several levels: some artists chose to deal with women's experiences related to subjects like motherhood, household tasks, the myth of beauty and emotions. Others chose to address questions regarding the perception of the woman as an object, a sexual object, a victim and a pawn. Other issues arising from the works include the roles of the woman/doll's body, the definition of the woman's self as subject, expressions of female strength and fortitude, gender differentiation and gender considerations in the manner of doll representation, the examination of female stereotypes and "social conventions", and the examination of public space and collective memory in doll representations.

The exhibition was comprised of works by the following artists: Nurit Armoni, Anat

Behrman, Dorota Bielas, Bracha Bien Venida Guy, Avital Bar-Shai, Eva Dabara, Belu Simion Fainaru, Doron Furman, Iam Hameiri, Dina Hofman, Shy Id-Alony, Alis Klingman, Tesy Pepper-Cohen, Shahar Sarig, Ido Shemy, Merav Shin Ben-Alon, Hagit Shoresh, Reuven Tishrey, Adi Weizmann-Aharoni.