Over the last number of years, the talented students of the Shenkar Institute have created over a hundred posters aimed at marking and commenting on Yitzak Rabin – his life, his murder, his memory and legacy.
The small selection of posters that are the ‘texts’ for our discussion regarding the many different ways that Rabin has been remembered and memorialized offer an opportunity to engage with Israeli art as a vehicle for raising issues of social, cultural, and political import.
In order to download a printable PDF of the posters please click here.
Please see the questions below as suggestions for the discussion:
“1. The Rabin Shopping Center 2. The Rabin Gymnasium 3. The Rabin Medical Center 4. The Rabin Youth Hostel 5. Falafel Rabin 6. The Rabin Synagogue 7. The Rabin Power Stattion 8. The Rabin Pre-Military Academy 9. The Rabin Community Center”
Is the ritual of naming in memory of…. a sign of remembering and/or a sign of forgetting?
“All That We Could Have Been”
What does Rabin (and his absence) signify in the mainly white field of the poster?
“An Ashkenazi, an Arab, a Secular, and a Right Winger Meet in the Square,”
Who are the ‘tribes of Israel’ mentioned in the poster? Who is included? Who is left out? Are these tribes exclusive or overlapping?
“Disagreement… And Rabin is Dead”
Why do you think that the artist chose to design the poster with the particular font?
“He Was Us”
Is this a line that every Israeli, that every Jew can identify with?
“He Will Make… and Let Us Say Amen”
In the original prayer, ‘He’ is God. Who is ‘He’ in this poster?
“One People, Countless Desires, Countless Hope, 11 Memorial Days.”
How can Israel be ‘One People’ if at the same time Israel is ‘Countless Desires, Countless Hopes”?
“Reaching the Age of Bar Mitzvah”
Has Israel achieved a certain maturity – after 13 years – connected with some of the lessons that could be drawn from Rabin’s murder?
“Seven Thin Years and Seven Thin Years – 14 Years of Murdering All Sacred Cows”
According to the poster, What does it suggest about Rabin’s murder as an isolated incident or as part of a broader societal process?
“The 12th Memorial Day Marking the Murder of Yitzhak Rabin”
What is the poster suggesting through the Rorshach of Yigal Amir י”ש and of Rabin ז”ל ?
“The Flock Returns without a Shepherd.”
What is powerful about the image of flock and shepherd, and the connection between the quotation and the palette of the poster?
“The State Memorial Day Remembering the Murder of Prime Minister and Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin Will Be Dedicated to the Importance of Democracy in Israel and to the Dangers of Violence for Society and State.”
What is the symbolism of the unraveling threads in the work?
“TV Guide – How to Become the Next Star is Born”
What is the poster suggesting about Israeli society and the need to identify heroes, create celebrities, and how they are forgotten and remembered?
“Violence erodes the foundations of democracy – Rabin 1995/Gaza 2009”
Explain the connection being drawn in the poster between Rabin 1995 and Gaza 2009?
“Yizkor – The Light of Israel – Memorial Candle”
Why the artistic nod to Andy Warhols iconic Campbell’s Soup (1962)? What is the artist suggesting about memorial candles and their special role in the memorialization of Rabin?
