From Ruin to Renewal

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.