Art Guide
For each song in our playlist, we offer an example of contemporary Israeli visual art that connects with the themes and narrative of the lyrics. This adds another dimension to your exploration of each song while enriching your familiarity with Israeli art and culture.
Artwork: “Lady Titi Sings the Blues”
Artist: Esti Almo-Wexler
When Ehud Banai made the video for his groundbreaking, critical song “Black Work,” he chose to have the complex and painful situation of Ethiopian immigrants viewed through the eyes of a child. This device allowed us all to ask the simple and obvious questions surrounding the racism and xenophobia that has plagued this community from its earliest arrival in Israel.
The child in that video was Esti Almo-Wexler, who grew up to be a trailblazer, part of a generation of Ethiopian Israelis who began the struggle for fair and equal treatment.
After a difficult adolescence (in which she fought to be seen as worthwhile), Esti became the first Ethiopian-Israeli accepted to the prestigious Bezalel Art School.
She went on to achieve other ‘firsts’ as a film-maker and owner of her own production company.
To date, she has produced several short and feature-length films, as well as a talk show in both Amharic and Hebrew, featuring Ethiopian-Israeli women.
Esti’s films focus on the lives of Ethiopian-Israeli women, whom she describes as the most vulnerable and invisible of citizens.
Her commercially successful 2018 film “Lady Titi Sings the Blues” uses a clever comic device that allows an outsider to see the world that Israeli women of color inhabit, most especially the abusive treatment they receive from White Israel and from men within their own community.
And Now You
- How do you think humor enhances or detracts from the fight for equality in which Esti Almo-Wexler is engaged?
- How do you view an “outsider,” such as Ehud Banai, creating art about the lived experience of minority groups? Is that a form of cultural appropriation, an act of generosity, or simply a response to an artistic inquiry?
- As an “insider,” how different is the perspective offered by Esti Almo-Wexler’s work from that of Ehud Banai’s song?
To see more of Esti Almo Wexler’s productions, visit www.abayenesh.com
For more information, screenings and lectures by filmmaker Esti Almo-Wexler, please contact Elad Wexler at eladwex@gmail.com
Visual Art
Artwork: “Lady Titi Sings the Blues”
Artist: Esti Almo-Wexler
When Ehud Banai made the video for his groundbreaking, critical song “Black Work,” he chose to have the complex and painful situation of Ethiopian immigrants viewed through the eyes of a child. This device allowed us all to ask the simple and obvious questions surrounding the racism and xenophobia that has plagued this community from its earliest arrival in Israel.
The child in that video was Esti Almo-Wexler, who grew up to be a trailblazer, part of a generation of Ethiopian Israelis who began the struggle for fair and equal treatment.
After a difficult adolescence (in which she fought to be seen as worthwhile), Esti became the first Ethiopian-Israeli accepted to the prestigious Bezalel Art School.
She went on to achieve other ‘firsts’ as a film-maker and owner of her own production company.
To date, she has produced several short and feature-length films, as well as a talk show in both Amharic and Hebrew, featuring Ethiopian-Israeli women.
Esti’s films focus on the lives of Ethiopian-Israeli women, whom she describes as the most vulnerable and invisible of citizens.
Her commercially successful 2018 film “Lady Titi Sings the Blues” uses a clever comic device that allows an outsider to see the world that Israeli women of color inhabit, most especially the abusive treatment they receive from White Israel and from men within their own community.
And Now You
- How do you think humor enhances or detracts from the fight for equality in which Esti Almo-Wexler is engaged?
- How do you view an “outsider,” such as Ehud Banai, creating art about the lived experience of minority groups? Is that a form of cultural appropriation, an act of generosity, or simply a response to an artistic inquiry?
- As an “insider,” how different is the perspective offered by Esti Almo-Wexler’s work from that of Ehud Banai’s song?
To see more of Esti Almo Wexler’s productions, visit www.abayenesh.com
For more information, screenings and lectures by filmmaker Esti Almo-Wexler, please contact Elad Wexler at eladwex@gmail.com
