Hunger, destruction, collapse, fire, migration and displacement – these are recurring motifs represented in the works of Ovadia Alkara from the 1980s to the present. In his oeuvre he responds to historical events and fuses them into a personal and poetic visual language that reflects the human experience in all its fragility and hope.
His paintings express his stance toward the nature of humanity struggling to survive within systems of power. The images of ruin and chaos may echo current events, yet they draw inspiration from global upheavals – the Vietnam War, the Iran-Iraq War, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, famine in Africa, and mass migration. They evoke a sense of threat through dramatic color and sharp silhouettes.
Alkara draws imagery from the world of media – newspapers, photography, stamps, and graphic design – and creates collages in which the images lose their original identity and merge into a dense multiplicity of form and color. At times, he focuses on a single dominant image; at others, he assembles surprising, imaginative, and seemingly unrelated juxtapositions. In the tension between order and disintegration, a turbulent picture emerges – a fractured kaleidoscope of a fragmented reality.
A recurring motif in his work since its beginning is the image of the bird, serving as a personal and existential symbol. The bird changes its form and shifts identities – at times a dark and menacing silhouette, at others, colorful and resplendent. It embodies, simultaneously, extinction and renewal, fragility and strength.
In Alkara’s paintings, personal and collective memory, history and poetry intertwine. They reflect both the vulnerability of humankind and its destructive impulses, while offering a glimpse of reconciliation and the possibility of repair.
Irit Miller
Exhibition Curator
