Michal Sala was murdered on October 3, 2019 by her husband and the daughter of her daughter, Eliran Malul.
His young age - only 32 years old, being a social activist and social worker, the normative, everyday appearance, and the fact that after the murder were revealed testimonies of the killer's previous spouses, which testified to violence on his part - all determined this horrific act of violence in the collective consciousness.
The murder is also engraved in the heart of illustrator Noa Kellner.
"He shocked me. I remember myself looking for details about Michal and the murder, every bit of information I could find," she says.
"The discovery that we have mutual friends on Facebook and closeness in age, status and residence, intensified the difficulty. I felt for the first time that it was not far from me, that such a case could happen to my girlfriend, also to my sister."
Diana Deadbeev,
Kellner's desire to respond was finally formed not long after Sala's murder, when she heard about the murder of 21-year-old Maya Vishniak, who was murdered by her partner Amit Almog.
"I know there have been other difficult cases between them, but something in their age and story made me want to respond in my own way," she says.
"I painted them together, as two figures looking at each other. Michal greets Maya with a good look and not a judge. You can see that the painting also gives each one her 'felt' - Michal with her daughter, and Maya is free and liberated as in the pictures, but both "Strengthen each other. Each from a different world, but with the same fate."
This illustration was the first of eight works, eight stories of murdered women, victims of preventable crimes.
Kellner says that what gave her the strength to continue the project was the reaction of the families of the murdered.
"Lily Ben Ami, Michal's sister, chose to share the illustration and also use it in her lectures at the 'Michal Sala' forum, which works to save lives and prevent violence against women through innovation and technology. Maya's family members, who saw the illustration shortly after the murder, requested a print "And hang it at home. For me, it was enough to move on."
Tatiana Kaminski,
"A stormy tree of life that was cut down"
Kellner was drawn to the story of the two's lives.
"It was important for me to know as much about them as possible. I tried to put what I recorded into the illustrations. Starting with their background, their lives and how they stand.
"For example, Mysar Othman, a 27-year-old divorcee. Myser was shot to death in her apartment in front of two of her four children. She wrote a post before she was murdered, with a sort of inspirational sentence that says: To put her as she saw or wanted to see herself - as a queen, sitting on a chair, surrounded by guarded wolves. "
To Tricia Lenny Pointer,
One of the creepiest illustrations that Kellner has created is that of 55-year-old Rachel Eisenstadt, a researcher at Yad Vashem, whose husband Guy Shapira strangled her to death and fabricated a story according to which she committed suicide in their home in Ma'ale Adumim.
"Rachel was a very impressive woman who went through a lot in her life. She repented after a life as an ultra-Orthodox, and then came out in question. She saw a lot and knew how to express her opinion.
Her figure stands with a tree surrounding her.
I felt it was less suitable for flowers, but more for roots.
Strongly planted, with branches that intertwine and entangle and surround it.
A stormy tree of life that has been cut down.
"I left 17-year-old Little Yael Melnik, as in the picture published on the various news sites: a beautiful girl with a sea behind her. I turned her into a supplier, a mermaid supplier.
In addition to these women, Kellner also pictured Latricia Lenny Poynter, 53, of Yeruham, a mother of four, who was strangled to death in her home by her partner, Scott Newman;
Suha Mansour, 38, a mother of three, who was shot dead at a beauty salon she owns in the castle;
Tatiana Kaminsky, 53, of Sderot, who was murdered by her son, Andrei, 29.
Was there a specific story you particularly connected to?
"I think that as a mother, any story involving children is especially difficult for me. Michal and Diana (Deadbave, who was murdered in February this year by her husband, policeman Amir Raz, in their house in the Na'ala settlement; TM), whose children were at home at the time of the act, are difficult events for me I can not understand or want to imagine. "
Little Yael Melnik,
Rebellion through femininity
Kellner says she has long wanted to take part in the fight against violence against women, "and succeed in contributing to awareness through my abilities. I was inspired by Art Nouveau-style illustrations that developed in Europe and the United States in the second half of the 19th century.
The women painted then radiated delicacy alongside strength, and I was very attached to that.
"There is something in these illustrations and in the tragic stories of the women that work beautifully together - the horror and the beauty resonate with each other. It does not present the brutality of death, but gives it a different touch, showing how inconceivable the act is - through their beauty and femininity. I wanted to treat them. .
Maya Vishniak and Michal Sala,
Kellner lives in Tekoa, married and a mother of three.
She is a freelance illustrator, a graduate of an illustration track in the Department of Visual Communication at Bezalel.
In 2019, after illustrating for others ("Only with Closed Eyes" by Emuna Alon, "A Story of Rain" by Ruth Calderon, "Stories of the Little Building" by Deborah Bousheri), she published a children's book, "A Very Long Day", which describes a day Packed with the adventures of a big brother and his little sister.
Mysore Othman,
Among other things, you illustrate children's books. How did you deal with this dissonance - on the one hand, did you work on soft, innocent children's books that all life is before them, and on the other hand: look again and again at the faces of the murdered to illustrate them, a life taken too soon?
"It's really very far from my illustrations for children's books, but it's also what's beautiful about illustration. I also illustrate for newspapers, where illustration gives a perspective on life and current events, and I run the 'Outline - Illustration and Words in Jerusalem' illustration festival, part of which is This - to show that illustration is not just children's books. "
Suha Mansour,
Kellner is not a political person, but when asked what she thinks can be done to prevent the next murder, she replies: "Awareness around the matter is very important. The open discourse of women who have come out of abusive relationships encourages other women to be exposed and get help. From there in time. "
Do you feel that through these illustrations you can help someone who is now in distress?
"I believe in illustration. He has the ability to connect to one image a lot of elements. He tells a story, but also lets the viewer tell his own story. So these illustrations are about these specific women, but they are also about each one. If those stories come and go. In as many women and men as possible, the very awareness of them will already have an impact in its path. "
Rachel Eisenstadt,
Kellner's goal was to illustrate all the women murdered in 2021, but she failed to do so.
"I hope to continue to air and give them that last respect from me as well."
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