Ella Okev

I am an Israeli artist whose roots are deeply planted in a Kibbutz in the Jordan Valley. My artistic practice stems from a profound connection and incessant questioning of Jewish identity, collective memory, and the building of the land. I delve into the story of the gathering on a piece of land in a constant struggle, drawing from my background as the daughter of immigrants from Yemen and Holland. My works address the courage and difficulty of choosing this identity, which has become critical since October 7th. I explore the story of my grandmother (from a missionary background) who decided after the Holocaust that all her children would convert to Judaism—an act that turns identity into a historical and binding burden. My autodidactic technique—drawing with both hands simultaneously—reflects this polarity, creating tension between precision and control (dominant hand) and deconstruction (complementary hand). No erasures are made; every mistake is preserved as testimony of our lives, where we strive for control yet are shaped by obstacles. Through combining drawing and vibrant watercolors on black-and-white archival images, I connect historical documentation with contemporary emotion, inviting the viewer into the shared memory of birth, construction, and deconstruction.