Art at Mishkenot Sha'ananim

At one of the seminars at Mishkenot Sha'ananim, author David Grossman remarked that during his stay here for the purpose of writing, he requested that the curtains be drawn and all the openings closed so that the view would not distract him and prevent him from concentrating on his creative work. It is indeed difficult to ignore the beauty of Mishkenot Sha’ananim or to compete with it or with the rich collection of works of art that adorn the walls of the residence. The photographic works of Israeli artists included in the Mishkenot collection are displayed in the interior public spaces and guest rooms of Mishkenot Sha'ananim and emphasize the tension between the old and the new—contemporary art versus the immortal landscape of the city’s walls—which is also the story of Jerusalem.

Artists in Mishkenot

Gilad Ophir

Born in 1957 in Israel.

Gilad Ophir holds a bachelor's degree in photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York and a master's degree in art from the city’s Hunter College. In 2002, he was awarded the Minister of Science and Culture Award.

Ophir's works mainly address the examination of the power relations between landscape and local architecture and the ongoing monitoring of processes of change in the natural and urban Israeli landscapes. In various works, he presents the development and expansion of suburban construction and the formation of new population centers, with their complex infrastructures. In recent years, he has focused on the aesthetics of new and old industrial areas in Tel Aviv, Ashdod, Eilat, Haifa, and elsewhere. An important part of his work concerns the tension between the various components of industrial and architectural products and nature. The latter is depicted in his photographs as being subjected to a process of survival, annihilation, decay, and transience, but also as having great self-healing powers and bearing rich materials of memory of places and what has occurred in them.

Gilad Ophir