Je t’aime Ronit Elkabetz

Elkabetz (1964–2016), Israeli and international icon, actress, screenwriter and director, was also a social activist for women’s rights in general and for Mizrahi (Mediterrannean) women in particular, as well as having been an artist’s muse. She was best known for her starring role in the film “Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem,” which she also co-wrote. In her work, she combined center and periphery, fashion and art, creating characters that have been etched onto social and cultural consciousness. The exhibition, “Je t’aime, Ronit Elkabetz,” (“I Love You, Ronit Elkabetz”) grew out of research into her collection of more than 500 wardrobe items, meticulously catalogued by her and stored in Tel Aviv and Paris over four decades. “I truly believe clothes have a spirit and a soul,” she said, “ so it’s important to me to care for them and then let them go when the time comes. After they have travelled a long way with me, I allow them to continue on, like a story or a film that needs to go on with its own life.” For this exhibition, 90 ensembles are reassembled into scenes combining her clothes, sets and sound design, and video art works. They form the cornerstones of a biography. Through April 28 at the Design Museum in Holon, Israel. dmh.org.il