Bat Galim beach and its consumers. Images of immigrants from the former Soviet Union in the art of Anna Lukashevsky

• In Event: Visual Arts

Abstract

The paper aims to analyse and interpret the art of Anna Lukashevsky, a contemporary Israeli artist, with a particular focus on an image of immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU). Anna Lukashevsky is a Lithuanian-born painter (b. 1975) who, in her early twenties, immigrated to Israel.
The examination of her pieces will consider how the depiction of specific individuals in a specific location and time represent their identity as immigrants in Israel. Furthermore, the paper will examine how the specific setting in which they are captured may represent experiences of migration in visual culture, with reference to the concrete socio-cultural situation.

This presentation will focus on a series of paintings from around 2016 depicting ageing immigrants from the former Soviet Union on Bat Galim beach in Haifa. The so-called "Russian-Israelis" became the largest group of newcomers in the 1990s. Many experienced significant integration challenges in a new country, including socio-economic degradation due to a very different environment. Lukashevsky paints women and men in swimsuits in the harsh summer sunlight or wandering along the promenade at night within the backdrop of the Mediterranean Sea. The figures are depicted in a frozen, sun-facing position. The characteristic of them does not omit imperfection of their bodies, or the distinctive dress code. In Lukashevsky's paintings, the subjects appear to be static and suspended in time and space, forming a homogeneous group that appears to be out of daily rhythms of rest of society.

The examination of visual materials will proceed two stages. The initial stage will entail a close formal and stylistic analysis, employing iconological methods of art history. The second stage will involve an interpretation of the materials within theories of visual culture studies (e.g. works of Irit Rogoff) and the socio-political context of the particular migration case.
A selection of paintings and interviews with the artist, conducted by myself in 2023, will serve as the primary source material for this study. Secondary sources will include publications on the art of Lukashevsky, such as exhibition catalogues, academic papers and newspaper articles. This paper is part of my PhD project.

Author

• Ewa Kędziora, University of Warsaw