I am the Laboring Art Dina Schupak - Tzila Liss
I Am the Laboring Art
Dina Schupak – Tzila Liss
The exhibition I Am the Laboring Art brings together two veteran artists in the Israeli art scene and in the kibbutz art sphere: Dina Schupak and Tzila Liss. The exhibition presents the works of Schupak and Liss side by side, as two female artists who are members of kibbutzim (Schupak from Kibbutz Metzer and Liss from Kibbutz Ein Shemer), and follows their approaches to questions of inspiration and artistic influence, the individual versus the collective, the value of labor, and gender perspectives.
I Am the Laboring Art examines the extent to which female artists in kibbutz society identify with collective goals, or whether they point toward alternative paths and hidden or overt conflicts. Is a woman artist in the kibbutz influenced by the values of the cooperative society in which she works? Does the kibbutz shape her art in any way? Has the value of labor—perceived in the kibbutz for many years as a supreme, almost religious value—been embedded in their work as a worldview and way of life? Can these values be identified in their techniques and subject matter? Do these artists feel the need to prove their ability to build and create, like men, while offering a different perspective—one that is feminine, individual, and distinct? And what of the concept of gender equality in kibbutzim, then and now?
Schupak and Liss, each in her own way, respond to the powerful presence of the collective and to traditional female roles that survived despite declarations of equality.
Dina Schupak
Dina Schupak was born in 1931 and grew up in Córdoba, Argentina, where she was educated within Hashomer Hatzair and absorbed the culture of resistance associated with the Argentine left against authoritarian rule. Inspired by the avant-garde, she placed the ideal of the working woman at the center of her early work.
From the beginning of her artistic career, Schupak connected modern avant-garde movements—particularly Kazimir Malevich and Suprematism—with feminine elements such as lace tablecloths and the phrase “Working Woman.” The diagonal lines of Suprematist compositions break through the square, while geometric forms—square, circle, and cross—appear repeatedly throughout her artistic journey. These works emphasize the tension between the feminine domestic sphere and the dominant masculine language of the avant-garde.
Later, Schupak created works from steel wool and cleaning pads, materials associated with domestic labor, transforming them into abstract artistic forms that combine softness and roughness. She also developed a series of construction-themed paintings asking questions such as: “How do we build?” “How do we build a house?” “A family?” “A state?” Through these questions, she examines the masculine vision of the Zionist project from a distinctly female perspective.
Schupak’s unique strategy for “taming” the masculine avant-garde was to translate it into the language of weaving, knitting, and embroidery. Using paint and delicate brushes, she metaphorically “weaves” Malevich’s geometry into a patient and continuous system of labor. The female avant-garde, in her work, becomes woven and embroidered rather than monumental and heroic.
Modernist abstraction also characterizes Schupak’s sculpture. Here too, she bridges seemingly unrelated traditions: the visual language of modernist abstraction and the symbolic traditions of kibbutz holidays. Her sculptures reinterpret symbols such as the sukkah, menorah, and harvest gates in a secular geometric language.
Her social awareness led to the creation of Formation, an installation inspired by life in the United States and addressing missing children. Portraits of missing children printed on supermarket bags form the basis of a complex copper installation dealing with neglect, vulnerability, and the darker aspects of modern society.
Tzila Liss
Tzila Liss continuously explores the tension between the individual and the collective and the objects that accompany them. Born in Kibbutz Ein Shemer in 1945 and raised within communal sleeping arrangements and the educational institutions of Hashomer Hatzair, she grew up at a time when collective identity was particularly strong.
The central figure in her work prepares to leave the crowded communal environment and embark on a journey. Gathering supplies, constructing sailing and flying devices, placing familiar objects on wheels, and marking routes and directions, her characters are always moving toward an unknown destination. What matters is not where they are going, but the act of departure itself.
Address Board, one of her key works from 2001, reflects the uncertainty that emerged as traditional communal structures began to dissolve. In this environment, everyday objects such as tables, chairs, kettles, pots, and bowls become symbols of security. Liss transforms them into “guardians of the road” accompanying anonymous figures traveling together yet lacking individual identity.
At the same time, Liss separates heads from bodies, reproducing them in uniform white forms arranged in industrial sequences. These heads become anonymous, genderless objects serving ideologies and systems larger than themselves. The result is a powerful reflection on conformity, identity, and the loss of individuality.
Much of Liss’s work is created on paper through meticulous drawing. In recent years she has shifted from depicting objects toward intricate abstract networks of stems, branches, blossoms, and human heads floating within dense vegetal environments. Through this transformation, disciplined labor becomes a luminous fabric of beauty.
Liss and Schupak work tirelessly. For decades they have built artistic worlds line by line, creating personal statements through persistent labor. Their work combines structure and discipline with quiet critical resistance, allowing the voice of the individual—and particularly the voice of women—to be heard within the collective.
Their strength lies in their willingness to declare: “I am a working artist.” They insist on the importance of artistic expression in a world that often measures labor according to traditionally masculine concepts of scale, productivity, and weight.
Presented across two venues—The Gallery at Givat Haviva and the Art Gallery of Gan Shmuel—this exhibition offers a broad and insightful view spanning decades of artistic practice, demonstrating that reflection expands and that art truly works.
Anat Lidror and Tali Tamir
Curators
Opening: March 16, 2019 – 11:00 AM at Givat Haviva, 12:00 PM at Gan Shmuel.
Venue: The Gallery for Peace, Givat Haviva Art Center, and Gan Shmuel Art Gallery.
Gallery Talk: April 6, 2019, 11:00 AM, Gan Shmuel Art Gallery.
Special Closing Event: “Gather Together: Women, Kibbutz and Art,” May 3, 2019, 9:30 AM–12:30 PM, Givat Haviva.
Exhibition Closing: May 4, 2019.
Publications
I Am the Laboring Art – A Joint Exhibition by Dina Schupak and Tzila Liss
Installation Views from “I Am the Laboring Art”
Gallery Talk at Gan Shmuel Art Gallery
Tzila Liss – Painting, Sculpture and Installation Art
A Glimpse of the Exhibition
Opening Event Photos: Here
Installation Photos: Here