Artist Sivia Braunstein was visiting family in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when she was awakened at 6:30 a.m. and brought to a safe room for 24 hours.
She survived, but soon realized people were taken hostage.
Upon returning to the U.S., she began painting portraits with the help of seven other artists: Nancy Gordon, Deborah Morris Zakheim, Judy Rohtbart, Jane Bennett, Carol Lert, Sue Seif, and Carol Sack Denmark.
Gordon, who came up with the idea to bring the exhibition to the Museum of Biblical Art in Dallas, describes the process of painting the faces of the hostages as an emotional experience.
“Being so horribly upset, I needed to do something,” she said. “They spoke to me, and I had conversations with them while I painted them.”
For Gordon, painting portraits is conveying “God’s greatest canvas.”
Exhibit curator Scott Peck noted how the portraits are individualistic, each portraying a distinctive part of the subject’s appearance, delivering a unique proclamation of character — the youngest profiles exuding an impression not easily verbalized.
“The exhibition is such a strong statement from these artists to all of us, bringing the victims close,” he said.
Dallas sculptor George Tobolowski, an alumnus of Hillcrest High School and SMU, who founded the National Center for Jewish Art in Dallas with Peck, serves as co-president of the Museum of Biblical Art.
Tobolowski noted how the portraits convey, “the joy on their faces of living free.”
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