חני כהן זדה
Mashiv HaRuach
(Return of the Spirit)
An Art Show from the Iron Swards War
OCT 2023 - MAR 2024
Mashiv HaRuach is not an exhibition that represents the war from a historical or factual point of view. Yes, I took from it factual stories that really happened, and I also told them in order, but what I wanted to tell about them is far beyond the facts. "Mashiv HaRuach" is an exhibition that tells about a tiny piece of time, forty days, out of a course of more than 3,300 years of Jewish life. The exhibition tells about this piece because during this time a window was torn open in the opaque screen that usually covers us, and we were revealed for who we really are. There have been many such "windows" throughout Jewish history in which we almost always appear at the extremes, either in the course of evil wickedness or in the course of awe-inspiring acts of kindness and heroism. There is almost no "middle" for us, because our reality always calls on us to choose between extremes. Just like in these days. Mashiv HaRuach was born out of my connection to those people who were caught in a situation of extremes and made a choice of awe-inspiring kindness and heroism. These people took my breath away and restored my spirit. These larger-than-life heroes and heroines reminded me that the spirit of the Jewish people is alive and well within them,and that this spirit will continue to live and beat in the hearts of all of us until the end of generations. By the strength of this divine spirit, they did the impossible, the superhuman, and explained to me anew how we got this far, how it happened that a scattered people united and built here a new and amazing home that is also an old home, older than any other people in the world, a miracle. How this miracle managed to happen. Each of them represents hundreds of heroic people who live among us, people of a different spirit. I connected with them and felt immense gratitude, to HaShem and to them, for the salvation they saved us and for the new hope they planted in us. I chose to paint the stories of the heroes on memory plaques that I brought from the March of the Living in Auschwitz, which I participated in in Iyar 5783, half a year before the war broke out. The gap between the horrors of the Holocaust and the Jewish heroism that was revealed on Simchat Torah, in the most Holocaust event we have experienced in the State of Israel, was a discovery of extremes that I had to connect between. The exhibition Mashiv HaRuach is a piece of a collected story that tells about the spirit of the Jewish people for generations. Even after we have distanced ourselves from this spirit, we return to it. We return to live with it and from it. And that's amazing. And that, in my opinion, is the basis for faith and hope. The people of Israel are alive and will live, and all our enemies will shrivel and die. The exhibition Mashiv HaRuach shows the direction where we are headed and what spirits accompany us on this path. “Let us go up and possess it for we are well able to overcome it." (Numbers 13 30) Chani Cohen Zada
From the March of the Living in Auschwitz to the Iron Swards War
An Art Project Striving for a Different Spirit in Times of War
The exhibition "Mashiv HaRuach” (“The Return of the Spirit") presents a collage of 40 paintings painted on memorial plaques from the March of the Living in Auschwitz. The paintings depict moments of victory, unity, and hope from the war.
The Paintings of Mashiv HaRuach
for the stories of the paintings press here
From the March of the Living in Auschwitz to the Iron Swards War:
Before the March of the Living, memorial plaques were distributed to the marchers in order to write dedications on the plaques to the victims of the Holocaust. In the photo, the plaques are placed between the train tracks on the way to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. These are the plaques that were used for the paintings of "Mashiv HaRuach".
The exhibition was launched at the Ammunition Hill and shown the Geula Gallery, both in Jerusalem, And in the Talmon and Ariel Cultural Center. The exhibition will also be presented in the USA at a conference organized by the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs.
The goal of the project is to strengthen the Jewish spirit and instill hope and faith in our ability to defeat our enemies. We believe in the power of our people to return to the spirit of our heroic ancestors, from biblical times to the present day. By inviting the exhibition, you are strengthening a voice of faith and Zionism in the Israeli art world.
We would be happy to present the exhibition to your audience as well.
The exhibition is portable and can be set up and dismantled in one day. It can be booked for one or more evenings. The exhibition is accompanied by a lecture by the artist and a gallery talk with the audience.
The exhibition can be displayed in a space of approximately 4x4 meters, hanging on the wall, on a screen or on stands on a table. The exhibition is suitable for social gatherings, study evenings, community centers, libraries, lobbies or halls of synagogues, high schools, municipalities and employee committees, as well as for your living room, for a family gathering. Suitable for an audience of youth (even young youth) and adults.
If you’re interested in more information about hosting the exhibition at your location please contact us at:
Email: chani.coza@gmail.com
Phone number: 0525666332
Exhibition press releases
ON MEANING Podcast interview
Jerusalem Times
photos from previous shows
Audience Reactions
Dr. Gadi Taub, Historian, lecturer and writer, from Israel Update on Tablet with Michael Duran and the Podcast Safekeeper: Dera Chani - Thank you very much for your invitation and for your art. I'm very glad I came to you, I was very impressed with your art.
- Yael Mali, writer and art lecturer: Dear Chani, I visited your moving exhibition. The paintings are excellent. It's unbelievable how many you made! The topics are very diverse. The small format surprised me. It calls for one to look closely, to concentrate, to reduce oneself and allow for space for the paintings and their stories. Great show
- Yona Levi Grossman, Artist : Chani, I'm here, I see your work and I'm so moved I'm crying . It amazed me how you captured the right moments...
- Rabbi Zeev Rosenfeld: You are very talented, the show was very meaningful and moving. Thank you very much.
Sarah Kapah, Former founder and director of Ulpanat Neriya:
The contemplation of the memorial plaques in the exhibition "Mashiv HaRuach" is breathtaking. Almost every painting is identified with one; names, places, events come back to me all at once, and with them the excitement... and the tears...
Each of the plaques, even those that are more personal or that I did not immediately identify, has a short, connecting and touching text attached to it.
Thank you for choosing such precious moments, Thank you for such a unique way of commemoration and remembrance That combines pain and beauty And thank you for reminding all of us how much strength, bravery and power there is in this people.
-Leviah Cohen: I visited the exhibition with my art students. The experience was very meaningful for us. The ability of art to give language within the crazy chaos that we have gone through and are still in.
The connection you created to the visit to Poland was meaningful and gave an important and deep layer to the students, many of whom visited Poland last summer.
The students went over each of the works and looked at them closely. The variety you created in the images you chose and the transition from "big" events to everyday events, from personal events that were part of the war to national ones that have already become a symbol, gave a broad, deep and personal look at the war.
The conversation with you was meaningful because it showed what was behind it. The artist's dilemmas, the professional considerations alongside the emotional ones, and other values that spoke to girls who study art and each experience the war at home and in their personal lives.
- Chaya Etta Gross - This exhibit needs to travel to every Jewish community around the world. It is about heroism and hope and miracles…and above all a reminder…
Am Yisrael Chai!
Irit Dortal- A fascinating and truly important show. It must be exhibited everywhere.
- The is fascination and very informative,
and for me a little consolation for the loss of Maoz z"l.
Thank you for a show of bravery that lifts us up.
- חני היקרה - תודה רבה לך. ותודה על ההזמנה, ועל האומנות שלך. מאד שמחתי לבוא אליכם, ומאד התרשמתי מעבודתך.
- היה מרתק, ומחכים,
ובשבילי עוד קצת נחמה על מעוז הי"ד
תודה על יצירה של גבורה שמרימה למעלה ולא מורידה למטה
- מקסים! מתפעלת מכשרונך האומנותי ועוד יותר מכשרונך הרוחני וההגותי והיכולת שלך להגיע ללב של עם ישראל! אין כמוך!♥️🏆
- תודה חני. מדהים כמה אייקוניות הסצנות שציירת. את מרביתן היה קל לזהות גם בלי לחפש מידע. סיפורים שהפכו לסמל של המלחמה הזו. "ויניחני בתוך בקעה והיא מלאה עצמות... והנבאתי כאשר ציוני ותהוא בנם הרוח ויחיו..."
- מתוך מעקב אחר היצירות מתחילת המלחמה. מדהימה ומרגשת!
- גילה קורדמני, גבעת שמואל: חני יקרה !!
זו לא הפעם הראשונה!! אולי הפעם הרביעית שאני נחשפת מוארת ונרגשת מאוד לראות ולחוות את ציורייך בתערוכת "משיב הרוח "
בעקבות מלחמת חרבות הברזל .
הצלחת דרך המיזם להעביר את רגשותייך , תחושותייך ואת האמונה החזקה שלך בהקב"ה , האהבה העזה שלך לארץ ישראל ,עם ישראל ותורת ישראל .
בתקופה קשה ארוכה ומאתגרת בה ליווית ותמכת בילדייך הלוחמים , כלותייך ונכדייך , ילדיי וחברייך בטלמון .
בציורייך חשים:
גבורה , אמונה תפילה וברכת כהנים, געגוע ,אהבת חינם, עידוד, צמיחה ותקווה, נשים גיבורות ,אחדות ...
יישר כח!!
ממליצה בחום לכולם להשתתף בהרצאותייך בעקבות הציורים וסיור בגלריה !!
- בתיה שיאון, מורה למגמת אמנות: תערוכה מרשימה ונוגעת. הייתי בה, ממליצה בחום.
- רחל שפיץ, רכזת תרבות בטלמון: תערוכה מרגשת ומשמעותית מאוד! נותנת מבט של עומק על המלחמה הזאת
- היה ערב מרגש ביותר, עשיר בתוכן משמעותי, מלא רגש, אהבה וחיבורים.
זכות גדולה להכיר אותך ודרכך ודרך יצירות האומנות המופלאות שלך, לגעת בערכי היסוד של זהותנו היהודית.
תבורכי מפי עליון.
- שיח גלריה משמעותי. היו הרבה אנשים. עוררת עניין. אירוע תרבותי בישוב. מעוררת השראה. כל הכבוד
- אני בבית אצ"ג! זה טירוף לראות תערוכה של כל הציורים שלך!! זה מלא! ומדהים
- אני מסתובבת במוזיאון וחושבת, בקטנותי, איזו אמנית ייחודית את. איזה קול שונה וחדשני את מביאה לעולם האומנות העכשווי. את מביאה יצירות עם המון עומק שנובע מאופטימיות ומאמונה בטוב שבעולם ובאדם. ואיזו זכות שאת מביאה את היצירה שלך לעולם
תודה חני יקרה
שהבאת לנו עד הבית את כל הטוב, היופי, המחזק.
Chani Cohen Zada is a figurative painter, an active artist in the Israeli art scene. Cohen Zada won the Minister's Award for Art in Jewish Culture for the year 2020, has exhibited in eight solo exhibitions, and is the mother of seven sons, five of whom are soldiers. to see more art by the artist press here chanicohenzada.com
The exhibition Mashiv HaRuach is dedicated to the memory of Maoz Fenigstein.
Maoz fell in battle in Aza on the 9th of Tevet 5784 at the age of 25. leaving behind a wife and daughter. הי"ד
Cohen Zada is a close friend of the Fenigstein Family. She painted a painting of him practicing his unique talent in balancing rocks.
