Michal Heiman (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: מיכל היימן, born in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...

) is a Tel Aviv-Yafo based artist, curator, theoretician and activist. She is the founder of the ''Photographer Unknown Archive'' (1984) and creator of the Michal Heiman Tests No. 1-4 (M.H.T). Her work bears on issues of history, human and women's rights, trauma, and memory, as well as an examination of the photographic medium, using reenactment, installation, archival materials, photographs, film, and lecture-performances. Heiman teaches at the

Bezalel Academy of Art and Design Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design ( he, בצלאל, אקדמיה לאמנות ועיצוב) is a public college of design and art located in Jerusalem. Established in 1906 by Jewish painter and sculptor Boris Schatz, Bezalel is Israel's oldes ...

in Jerusalem and is a member of the Tel Aviv Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis.

Artistic career

For over three decades, since graduating from Art Studies at Hamidrash School of Art in 1984, Heiman has been developing a discipline that inhabits a field between

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

theory A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be ...

, and

praxis Praxis may refer to: Philosophy and religion * Praxis (process), the process by which a theory, lesson, or skill is enacted, practised, embodied, or realised * Praxis model, a way of doing theology * Praxis (Byzantine Rite), the practice of fai ...

. Heiman's work has been exhibited in leading venues around the world. In 1997, Heiman represented Israel at

Documenta X documenta X was the tenth edition of documenta, a quinquennial contemporary art exhibition. It was held between 21 June and 28 September 1997 in Kassel, Germany. The artistic director was Catherine David. This was the first time a woman was ap ...

in Kassel, Germany, debuting her first ''Michal Heiman Test'' box and procedure. In 2008, her solo exhibition ''Attacks on Linking'' debuted at the Helena Rubinstein Pavilion for Contemporary Art,

Tel Aviv Museum of Art Tel Aviv Museum of Art ( he, מוזיאון תל אביב לאמנות ''Muzeon Tel Aviv Leomanut'') is an art museum in Tel Aviv, Israel. The museum is dedicated to the preservation and display of modern and contemporary art from Israel and aroun ...

. In 2017, Heiman exhibited her solo exhibition, ''AP – Artist Proof, Asylum (The Dress, 1855-2017)'', at the Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art – a large-scale installation and performance work that incorporated the participation and input of visitors, and which raised questions concerning the notion of the right to return. Among her notable works are a lecture/film on British psychoanalyst

Wilfred Bion Wilfred Ruprecht Bion DSO (; 8 September 1897 – 8 November 1979) was an influential English psychoanalyst, who became president of the British Psychoanalytical Society from 1962 to 1965. Early life and military service Bion was born in M ...

and video works based on case studies by psychoanalysts

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts ...

and D. W. Winnicott. Heiman has also exhibited in venues such as the University of Melbourne Museum of Art; Le Quartier Centre d'Art Contemporain, Quimper, France; the

Jewish Museum A Jewish museum is a museum which focuses upon Jews and may refer seek to explore and share the Jewish experience in a given area. List of Jewish museums Notable Jewish museums include: *Albania ** Solomon Museum, Berat *Australia ** Jewish Mu ...

, New York City; the Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Japan; the

Van Abbemuseum The Van Abbemuseum () is a museum of modern and contemporary art in central Eindhoven, Netherlands, on the east bank of the Dommel River. Established in 1936, the museum is named after its founder, Henri van Abbe, who loved modern art and wante ...

, Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and the Changjiang Museum of Contemporary Art, China, and others. Heiman brings her critical voice to bear on issues of history, while engaging with human rights and more specifically, women's rights, exploring and questioning the ability of visual tools to penetrate traumatic experiences through different tactics and pre-enactments, as well as examine the photographic medium, its therapeutic potential, and its role in the struggle for social justice. Her enactment and installation works, archival materials, photography and film series, and her lectures/performances are deeply rooted in the political, familial, and social arenas. From 2019 to 2020, Heiman exhibited work in the United States, focusing on her growing archive of narratives and histories of marginalized, pioneering, and revolutionary women, first with Radical Link: A New Community of Women, 1855-2020 in Washington, D.C., and then with Hearing in Los Angeles, California.

Activism

Heiman has been active as a women's right advocate for many years. In 2015, she founded the organization '' Women in Academia'' to protect and advance women's equality in Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, and in 2018, she founded the public-benefit corporation ''An Academy of Her Own'', which advocates for gender equality in various academic institutions.

Personal life

Heiman has two children, Leigh (26) and Emily (22).

References

External links

*
Michal Heiman
RawArt Gallery * Roi Boshi
"Michal Heiman: Winking and Attacks on Linking"
Fotograf 13, no. 24, Prague * Dr. Michal Ben Naftali
"I Am Not Here: On Michal Heiman's Radical Realism"
* Omri Herzog
"A Report to an Academy – On Michal Heiman's Through the Visual: A Tale of Art that Attacks Linking, 1917-2008"
* Danielle Knafo
"Creative and Clinical Transformations of Trauma: Private Pain in the Public Domain"
''Israel Journal of Psychoanalysis'', 1 (4), pp. 533–555 * Dr. Ariella Azoulay,
"Critical Image: Michal Heiman"
Le Qartier, Center of Contemporary Art, Quimper * Prof. Elisa Carandina
La cura dell'accidentale: Forme di racconto di sé e dell'altra nella poesia ebraica e nell'arte israeliana contemporanea.
Archivio di studi ebraici, Napoli, 2021. {{DEFAULTSORT:Heiman, Michal 1954 births Living people 20th-century Israeli women artists 21st-century Israeli women artists 20th-century women photographers 21st-century women photographers Israeli curators Israeli photographers Israeli women photographers Academic staff of Tel Aviv University