Michael Ben Abu presented "Ishmila", an interdisciplinary installation that combined painting, sculpture, video, and text into a multi-layered, thought-provoking work that connected Jewish existential philosophy with art. The exhibition invited viewers to engage in a deep inner dialogue where questions about life and death collided with one another.
At its center stood two coffins, wrapped in Ben Abu's artwork. On the pillows lay ceramic tiles inscribed with the words "Eneni" ("I am not") and "Hineni" ("Here I am"), representing absence and presence, emptiness and existence. Surrounding the coffins, paintings hung in a ritualistic circle, forming part of new series that intertwined with a video work depicting Ben Abu meditating in a whirling Sufi motion.
In the second part of the space, the installation invited the audience to explore "Books of Life", large-scale painted books created through a Sisyphean process of copying, duplication, and rebinding. In these works, Ben Abu integrated painting, text, philosophical inquiries, and a unique fusion between art and the written word.

Photography: Assaf Oren