From Ruin to Renewal

A house with a red-tile roof, surrounded by bushes and trees, some with pink flowers. The house has graffiti on the walls and a sidewalk leading to the entrance, under a partly cloudy sky.

This memorial wall is constructed from fragments of objects recovered from the home of the Kedem family in Kibbutz Be’eri, following its destruction and burning on October 7, 2023. Everyday items such as a photograph, a chair, and children’s toys, once part of ordinary life, were left charred and covered in soot. In this work, they are gathered and reassembled into a new form.

At the center of the wall hangs a clock that stopped at the moment the flames reached it, a quarter to six in the afternoon. Inside the safe room, with the door left unlocked, Omri Kedem, his wife, and their son survived. Twice, the attackers attempted to open the door and failed.

Objects that once bore witness to destruction now form a space of memory and continuation. From within loss and rupture, the work reflects a persistent human impulse to endure, remember, and rebuild.

The memorial wall was first presented in the solo exhibition “Simple Things” by artist Eli Gross at Artillery Gallery in Tel Aviv, and later exhibited as part of the exhibition “1956” in Manhattan.

A collage of eight photos showing a house and interior damage, including unfinished exteriors, a refrigerator with photos, burned ceilings, construction debris, and graffiti on a wall.

Broken round clock with a cracked face, hanging on a brick wall, showing the time as 10:45.

A rubber plant in a pot on a wall shelf with various old and dirty tools and brushes; a crown-like decoration with pearls on the shelf; a small skull decoration on the shelf; a large clock on a brick wall.

A weathered flyer and a photograph attached to a brick wall. The flyer is in Hebrew, promoting a community event with illustrations of three people and event details. The photograph shows a group of people outdoors.

Information board mounted on a brick wall with a wooden backing, featuring printed text and a collage of photographs about a project called 'From Ruin to Renewal' by ARΤillery, secured with aluminum foil corners.

A weathered and rusty bulletin board on a brick wall, with several old, crumpled, and faded photographs and a paper flyer attached.

A weathered wooden shelf mounted on a brick wall holding an assortment of dusty, old personal care items including toothbrushes, a hairbrush, a mug, and jewelry.