by Bonnie Boxer
Zipi Mizrachi was an art teacher in a religious high school who studied the History of Art. While working on her doctorate, she became keenly aware of voices missing from the Israeli art scene, the voices of religious women and, for many years, even religious men. The religious community does not support or purchase art. Religious women artists had no model, no means, no access and no exposure. In 2010, Mizrachi decided to support religious women artists in developing their creative potential. She initiated a mentoring program to teach them how to build a career in art, through meetings with curators and courses on professional development. The women who joined the supportive community, named “A Studio of Her Own,” – inspired by Virginia Woolf’s novel, A Room of One’s Own – were on a wide spectrum of religiosity.
By 2015, there were close to 30 participating artists, and Mizrachi realized that the next critical step was creating a space to show their work. The first “gallery” was in a public bomb shelter made available by the Jerusalem Municipality. In Jerusalem, it is common for bomb shelters to be used for cultural and community activities when not needed for protection during war. The exposure this gave led to shows in galleries and museums, in Israel and even abroad. As Mizrachi also saw as her goal enhancing multicultural discourse in Israeli contemporary art, she began working with Arab, Druze and Bedouin women artists around the country as well as new immigrant artists, women and men.
In 2020, the Jerusalem Municipality offered A Studio of Her Own the top floor of a building that once had been the home of a renowned painter, Pinchas Litwinowsky. It has three gallery spaces: the former living room, foyer and an enclosed porch. A Studio of Her Own puts on between five to nine exhibitions a year, provides residencies and hosts cultural activities and public lectures. The living room and foyer are the main exhibition spaces, showing mostly art by women – occasionally including men – who come from the whole spectrum of identities in Israeli society. The porch is a small space which suits first solo exhibitions for young women artists at the beginning of their career. The bedroom has become a studio for residencies for two women artists at a time who usually share it for a year. Litwinowsky’s studio is used for lectures and workshops as well as the ongoing mentoring and training programs. Women artists fostered by A Studio of Her Own are reaching achievements they could not have dreamed of before.
The 100-year old building is in need of infrastructure repair. The program, as a means for women artists to develop their creative potential, the first and still only such center in Israel, can be amplified to reach more women and provide more exposure. A Studio of Her Own, which has been supported by the Jerusalem Foundation since its early days, continues to develop its distinctive way of contributing to art and society in Jerusalem and impacting the country at large.