Menashe Kadishman and Igael Tumarkin + Siona Shimshi and Jachin Hirsch
Siona Shimshi and Jachin Hirsch met Igael Tumarkin and Menashe Kadishman in the 1960s – most likely through the artistic milieu that later coalesced around the 10+ collective. Hirsch and Tumarkin were also linked by their shared interest in documentary work. The archival materials on display – photographs, footage, letters, and drawings – point to a closeness that deepened when Tumarkin and Kadishman were already central figures in the Israeli art world.
The couple's relationship with Tumarkin developed into a lasting creative partnership. Hirsch documented Tumarkin's work in photography and film, including two documentaries that presented Tumarkin's creative processes in the 1980s and 1990s. Tumarkin, in turn, engaged with Shimshi's world – writing about her work or interviewing for her. Each partner's friendship with Tumarkin was grounded in ongoing exchange and mutual regard and trust. This allowed Hirsch entry into personal spaces in Tumarkin's life that are generally inaccessible to documentarians.
The archival materials reveal that Hirsch's personal bond with Kadishman formed later, in the 2000s, and speak to Hirsch's desire to make a documentary about Kadishman's work. Letters and unedited footage highlight Hirsch's documentation as an act of holding on to a relationship – a way of expressing respect and preserving a sense of shared participation in significant artistic moments. Through Hirsch's close ties with these two prominent artists, each emerges in a new light that complicates their familiar public image: Tumarkin is seen at his home and with his family, engaged in creative work in his studio, and even playing with his dogs; Kadishman is documented in moments of uncertainty, looking directly into the camera and responding humorously to its presence.
Finished films and published photographs mark formal points on a timeline. The materials that remained in the archive, by contrast, reveal a sustained, intimate, and informal presence. Knowing the camera belongs to a close friend – one who has followed not only their work but the arc of their lives over many years – allows the subjects to open up with unusual tenderness and directness. From this position of closeness, Hirsch captures not only the public artist but the person behind the work: his mindset, his immediate surroundings, and the complexities of an artist's life.
