Behind the series of paintings in the new exhibition "Yet Tazita: Memory of a Home", which is currently on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, stands a 97-year-old artist, Avraham Pardo, known fondly as Avra. About a decade ago, Avra was flooded with memories from the past and found a way to translate them into the art of painting. These paintings are flashes of experiences from living in a village in Ethiopia and his family's journey, on their way to Israel.
In the paintings chickens, cows and goats are depicted along landscapes from both Africa and Israel. “Avra” which is an Ethiopian nickname for Avraham, uses simple techniques and pens and pencils that exist in most homes to create his art. The brushstrokes are not organized, nor are the linens upon which the colors were applied, but the vivid memories Avra comes through with every glance. Some of the paintings are on cardboard, some on white Bristol paper, and some on canvas. The choice seems to have been random, with no prior technical knowledge.
As is the way of memory, which behaves in disorder, Avra's collection of paintings was not created based on any chronological order. Nevertheless, the paintings are divided into categories chosen by Avra.
(1/2)The Jerusalem-based Israel Museum has one of the world's most important collections of Israeli artworks. The Museum's "Here & Now" collection showcases early-career, contemporary artists who use various media, including photography, video and drawing. Bader Philanthropies... pic.twitter.com/JEzq8RGqvA
— Bader Philanthropies (@BaderGiving) October 24, 2022
As part of “Operation Moshe” which rescued Jewish Ethiopians from constant persecution in 1984, Abra and Zhava Fredo left the village of Macha with their 12 children and Abra's father who was close to a hundred years old at the time. "The road to Jerusalem was like walking on a cliff. It was agreed that we must take all risks for the sake of Jerusalem," Avra says. They marched for a month in the Armaju forest, known to be home to snakes and beasts of prey. The choice to go through it was made to avoid an encounter with roadside thieves. When they encountered the thieves anyway, they gave them some of the money they had.
14310 Ethiopian Jews airlift in 1,5 days in hostile environment , almost smuggled to bring them to Israel
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Go read about the Operation Solomon. pic.twitter.com/029eOmQyIo
In an interview with the Israeli newspaper “Makor Rishon” Avra spoke of his journey to Israel. "We went with complete faith," Avra says. "In places where we were a little exposed and there was a fear that thieves or worse would find us, suddenly a thick layer of fog began to form all around us,” Avra said that it truly felt like God was accompanying them on their journey to the holy land.
Avra's face always seems to light up when he remembers the moments of arriving in Israel. "It was possible to die of joy." He felt as if he had reached the Garden of Eden with fertile soil, material abundance, and above all the right to live in a place sacred to the Jews.
