A graduate of the Photography Department at Bezalel, Michal Rovner is the recipient of the Israel Prize

Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Jerusalem is proud to offer its congratulations to the artist Michal Rovner, a beloved graduate of the Bezalel Department of Photography, the winner of the 2023 Israel Prize in the field of fine arts.

Rovner is a leading interdisciplinary Israeli artist working in Israel and around the world. Her works in photography, video art, sculpture, drawing, and installations bear the stamp of the unique language she has created, which is characterized by erasing identifying details and mixing materials from different places; and touches on questions of identity, place and human existence. In many of her works, Rovner combines creative fields, while integrating advanced technologies and creating groundbreaking visual and audio-visual spaces. In doing so, she challenges the definition of the medium's boundaries. Her original and groundbreaking work has earned her international recognition and her works are included in the collections of 30 leading museums in the world, including the British Museum in London, the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, as well as the Tel Aviv Museum and the Israel Museum.

The appreciation of her handwriting as an artist in the local and international art field is expressed in the presentation of her works in the most important museum settings - in solo exhibitions at the Whitney Museum in New York, at the Galerie Jeu de Pomme in Paris, at the Venice Biennale, and at the Tate Gallery in London. In 2011, Rovner earned the most comprehensive exhibition of a contemporary artist at the Louvre Museum in Paris, which spanned three wings.

The reasons for the selection: "Michal Rovner is one of the leading artists in Israel. Her artistic work is distinguished by an original and groundbreaking language in the field of photography, video, and architectural installation. Rovner has received significant recognition and success in Israel and the world from the important museums and art lovers. Michal's work is universal, in the deepest sense of the word, touches every person, everywhere, but at the same time, the taut strings are visible in it, tied at their ends to pegs driven in here."

The president of Bezalel, Prof. Adi Stern, said: "The work of Michal Rovner, a graduate of Bezalel's photography department. It touches every person, everywhere, but at the same time, the taut strings, tied at the ends to pegs, are evident in it which are driven in here, in this land, in the Israeli space, in the ancient and conflicted Middle East.
Her work transcends the photographic medium, beyond the image. For the past four decades she has been creating wonderful art, and proving that her creative ability is bubbling and overflowing, and sprouting again and again innovative, deep and powerful artistic works.
There is no candidate more deserving of the 2023 Israel Prize for Plastic Art than Michal Rovner."

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