E14 Guernica as Inspiration, Then and Now Carmit Blumensohn The challenging and direful days that the Israeli people and their nation are experiencing in the wake of the shocking massacre of innocent civilians on October 7, 2023, calls for a rethinking of the way in which we read our own history, art, and culture. Whether in moments of joy or distress, art has always been a way to cope with reality. Artists respond to events and tell their stories, each in their own way, thereby contributing to the formulation of our collective memory. From the depths of shock, choked up with grief, we are witnessing a flood of responses. It seems that contrary to the well-known saying… ״when the cannons roar, the muses are silent״, this time, when the cannons roar, the muses are intensified. Many Israeli artists have turned to their work to process the horror and to commemorate the victims—through installations and murals in public spaces, and through illustrations and paintings in all forms across social media. They have done this out of a sense of urgency and a need to pay tribute to the lives cut short, and to express the magnitude of the rupture it created. In this context, art is perceived as a tool for protest, and as a way to address both personal and national pain. Works of art that were created even before that Black Saturday and the war,
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