Three artists, three questions: Ukraine-born artists in Israel, living between two wars - interview

After February 24, 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, many Ukrainian Jews fled their country and moved to Israel. Little did they know that in a year and a half, after Oct. 7, 2023, they would find themselves between two wars: one in Ukraine, the other in Israel.

Until the Russia-Ukraine war, many Israelis who made aliyah from Ukraine – or earlier, from the Ukrainian Republic of the Soviet Union – were called “Russians.” There was no distinction between Russians and Ukrainians in Israeli society; they were all one group of Russian speakers.

The Russia-Ukraine war immediately impacted their sense of identity of origin; now they’re still known as Israelis who made aliyah, but specifically from Ukraine. (Simultaneously, there were also Russian Jews who made aliyah to escape Putin’s Russia.) 

The complex double identity, which touches most Jews around the world, has become even more complicated for Ukrainian Israelis, among them Israeli artists born in Ukraine. 

The three artists, born in Ukraine, shared their perspectives on their double identity and answered my three questions:

• What inspires you?
• What do you call art?
• What makes your artwork different from that of other artists?

Zoe Sever 

An established contemporary Israeli artist with a recognizable style and optimistic colors, Zoe Sever was born in 1974 in Lviv.  By age 16, she completed her art studies at the Lviv School of Arts, and just after she made aliyah in 1990 with her family. In 2001, she graduated from the architecture faculty at Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. In 2001, she graduated from the architecture faculty at Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design.

Sever, with her background in architecture, is passionate about landscapes. She also paints important and iconic figures in Israeli history in anachronistic settings (Theodor Herzl’s balcony appearance; David Ben-Gurion’s headstand on a beach on Tel Aviv). She is known for Israeli landscapes painted on the edge genres of modernism and naïve art. She also paints Ukrainian landscapes for herself, not for art galleries. 

Sever has a strong dual identity, saying it’s “50/50” between both countries. Her cover picture on Facebook has two flags together – Ukrainian and Israeli. 

When her first homeland was attacked three years ago, she didn’t hesitate to act, recalling: “My classmates are serving in the [Ukrainian] army right now.” She decided to get involved and started a foundation called Obednyanny Ludy Planety (United People Planet). “We have helped the Ukrainian soldiers from the beginning of the war by providing helmets and bulletproof gear,” she said. 

She also joined the Israeli Trauma Coalition, a group of psychologists who help in Ukraine. “I travel with them a lot, and I learn on the job,” she said, though she is not a psychologist. However, her experiences as a young Israeli soldier years ago were helpful when she went to Ukraine during the current war.

“In my IDF service, I was an officer who delivered the sad news about the fallen soldiers to their families,” she said. Over the last three years, she has flown to her native country almost every two months for two weeks. 

When we spoke, she had just arrived in Kyiv, coming from more dangerous war zones on the border with Russia. “I met soldiers in combat units. I took care of them; I brought them equipment and provided psychological training according to the Israeli protocols,” she told me by phone. 

Sever’s involvement in helping Ukraine doesn’t stop her artistic activities. Her next solo exhibition, “Shades of Israel,” will open in April, in Sofia, Bulgaria. 

Inspiration: “I am inspired by everything that doesn’t leave me indifferent. Interesting people, movies, landscapes, life stories, paintings, exhibitions, books, and dreams. Sometimes just shades of colors, things I’ve seen somewhere.”

Meaning of art: “I call art any creative self-expression that resonates with other people. I don’t think there are strict parameters and standards for what can be considered art and what cannot.”

Sever’s art: “My works are distinguished by two things: a unique style I invented, which has no exact name (strangely enough, it’s not naive art, although I often collaborate with the Gina Gallery); and my approach to depicting landscape and architecture.

“I am an architect by training. That’s why people rarely appear in my paintings. I consider architecture and landscape my main ‘model’; they are the constant. People and other characters are the variables. I view my paintings as a kaleidoscope focused on the surrounding world. This is the prism through which I look at the world.”zoesever.com

Julia Krieger

Julia Krieger is at the beginning of her artistic path. She works in mixed media, does video art, paintings, and sculptures, and is a tattoo creator. In 2024, she received her bachelor of fine arts degree from the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design. 

Krieger had her first solo exhibition in 2021 in Ramat Gan, and since then has participated in several group shows. She is now preparing her next solo show, which will be held next year at the Wertheimer Gallery in Tel Aviv. 

She was born in Uzhgorod, Ukraine, in 1997 and was raised a Christian. Until ten years ago, she didn’t realize she was Jewish, she told the Magazine. With disarming honesty, Krieger said that she would have never thought of even visiting Israel if she hadn’t fallen in love with a Jewish boy who was going to spend a summer in Israel. He told her about the MASA program and explained to her that if her grandmother was Jewish, her mother and she were Jewish, too.

The stunned 19-year-old Krieger confronted her mother, asking if it was true. Her mother replied, “I’ve wanted to tell you your whole life. But I was afraid because when I was young, I was bullied for being Jewish.” For her safety, the family kept it a secret. Soon after, in 2017, she made aliyah. Later on, her mother joined her. Her brother has remained in Ukraine with his family.

“When the war started in Ukraine, I felt the same feeling that I felt when first visiting Yad Vashem: Why does the world hate us so much?” she said. Krieger wanted to help, so she participated in a few fundraising exhibitions in Israel for Ukraine. “It was hard to be here, safe, while my friends and family faced hell on earth,” she said.

Her sense of safety was destroyed on Oct. 7 with Hamas’s attack on Israel and mega-atrocity. Since then, like many Israelis, Krieger has been volunteering. Using her skills, she conducted art classes for child survivors of Oct. 7 who had relocated to Tel Aviv from the South. 

“That’s when I found my purpose. Now it’s my job. As part of the Nova Project, I teach painting to children from the Gaza border communities through Shenkar College. After being relocated for 11 months, they returned, and we went to help them acclimate.” 

She added that working with these children also helps her. “They are the reason I still believe in good – even when every city I’ve ever called home is on fire.”

Inspiration: “Nature, children, and animals inspire me. They all embody innocence and authenticity, untouched by the materialism that often consumes the world. Nature continues its harmonious rhythm, children express joy without hesitation, and animals show loyalty and kindness. Their simplicity and honesty fuel my imagination, inspiring me to create meaningful and heartfelt art.”

Meaning of art: “For me, art is a universal language that tells us what couldn’t have been said by words. Whether you are young or old, wherever you come from, art has the power to connect us and spark a shared understanding. It speaks to something deep within us, reminding us of beauty, imagination, and what it means to be human.”

Krieger’s art: “My creative practice delves into the dynamic tension between opposing forces: permanence and transience, strength and erosion, natural elements, and man-made forms. 

“I explore how time, water, and stone interact as metaphors for the complexities of human experience, transformation, and resilience. In recent works, I juxtapose solid sculptural forms with fluid video elements to invite a reflection on change and endurance. I create contemplative spaces that evoke resilience, melancholy, and beauty in impermanence.

“My vision and style give my creations a voice that’s uniquely my own, while inviting viewers to interpret and connect with them in a meaningful way.”www.instagram.com/jkrieger_art

Yan Bolotov

Born in 1988 in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Yan Bolotov was two years old when his family moved to Israel.He is a light artist, with a BA in visual communications from Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, and an MFA from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. Before focusing on light design and installations, he worked on video clips and video art for various projects. 

His current works are also influenced by his experiences of working in nightlife environments. “I started by designing lights for parties, particularly for the Jerusalem-based production company Hypnotic Discotheque. The nightlife audience has a unique energy and openness that I find incredibly inspiring,” he said.

He is the recipient of the 2024 Rywkind Ben Zour Prize for graduates of the Master’s Program in Fine Arts at the Bezalel Academy, in collaboration with the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. His awarded work, Order no. 273196121229, is featured in the current group exhibition and yet: looking at contemporary art, 1985-2025 at the museum’s Eyal Ofer Pavilion.

His installation is placed in a specially built exhibition room, with one little window on one of the walls, reflecting the lights on the opposite side, and big glass “windows,” with light effects coming through them. 

Viewers experience light and sound in the 16-minute show (sound by Nik Spiv). Bolatov takes us through all the phases of the day and night, including artificial sunset. “People don’t go for free to watch a sunset in nature, but when they need to buy a ticket they will come to watch it at a museum,” he noted. 

Throughout his life, he often traveled back to Ukraine to visit his grandmother. In recent years, he has connected with local artists. During the Russian-Ukrainian war, he started to speak Ukrainian (growing up, Russian was spoken in his home) with his Ukrainian friends in Berlin. However, when the war erupted, after the first shock he realized “there is nothing I could do” but pursue art.

Although he grew up in Israel since he was a toddler, his works point out that he was born in Ukraine. In a way, it marks him. Asked about it, he said he would have written “Israel,” because he wants people abroad to know that “in Israel, there are all sorts of normal people.” 

Inspiration: “As a light artist, I try to tap into the moment before words or labels come to mind – the raw, unfiltered feeling of experiencing something. I find it easier to connect with that feeling when there are fewer distractions, which is why I’m often drawn to nature. In natural environments, everything feels more immediate and clear.

“In the last three years, my main inspiration is from horror and sci-fi movies. These genres are not trying to be loyal to a realistic point of view; they usually try to get further from what we know as reality. [When] combined with daily life and nature, I think it makes a good combination of inspiration.”

Meaning of art: “The definition of art is quite broad, but art that moves me has a more narrow definition. It is what brings me into the present moment; an awareness of where I am and how I feel. What makes something art, in my opinion, is its ability to evoke a sense of presence and connection. It’s not about the medium or the context but about the emotional and sensory impact it has on the viewer.”

Bolotov’s art: “What sets my work apart is my practice of trying and fitting the opposites and blending them into a single cohesive experience. I’m fascinated by the tension between contrasting elements – the real and the fake, the industrial and the natural, life and death. I try not to emphasize one over the other but instead flatten their impact, creating a space where they coexist without hierarchy.

“I avoid identifying too strongly with familiar images or ideas, preferring to remain observant and open to the unexpected. My work is about creating moments of disorientation and wonder, where the boundaries between opposites blur and new meanings emerge.”www.instagram.com/8udnd83jsk ■