2021 – Rooftop Paintings: Eshchar-Sachnin (Morning); Sachnin-Eshchar (Afternoon), Ruth Kestenbaum Ben-Dov

Ruth Kestenbaum Ben-Dov (b.1961) made aliyah as a teenager with her family, graduated from Bezalel, and lives and works in the Galilee. She made these two oil paintings simultaneously. One is the view from her home of the neighboring town of Sachnin, and the other is the view from a rooftop in Sachnin of her village, Eshchar. She raises the question of point of view: Can we truly see the other, those who live in the same landscape? The artist’s need to find a place in Sachnin to compose this painting led not only to the creation of a work of art, but also to the creation of neighborly bonds. (Images by Dror Miler; collection of the artist, used by permission)