The Apple Doesn't Fall
When we look at all the paintings collectively and see this variety of powerful and moving images, it's easy to notice that the majority of subjects are women from the realms of physical arts, dance, or performance. This lays in the awareness of their expression, the choice of location, the composition and the willingness to be exposed.
When the artist called for women to participate in this project, she created a performative opportunity even for those women who are not performers, and accordingly this is no ordinary exhibition of portraits. In the artist's agreement not to shape the frame or affect her subjects, there is a sense of adventure, as is felt by someone who is asking to harness her subjects' knowledge in order to challenge herself and develop, while creating an artistic space and providing freedom of expression.
"The Apple Doesn't Fall" - it's held firmly in the jaws, as if these women all desire not to move away but rather to belong; to belong to the circle of strong independent women who willingly blocked their own mouths while simultaneously biting into this ancient symbol, confidently facing the masculine world that shaped it. It's a mirror of a community that is self-aware and, realizing its weakened state, strives with a striking silence to empower its individuals. As a multidisciplinary artist, Efrat Rubin has created an image that endows new meaning to the connection of the woman and the apple, devoid of any snake or reference to a man/human.
Sahar Azimi. Curator.