Miami art adviser defies anti-Israel boycott with Israeli art show 'Homeland'

Since Oct. 7, it’s become almost trendy to oust Israeli artists. Recognizing that, Azout’s work gradually became intertwined with an existential purpose. 

By JENNA ROMANO DECEMBER 2, 2024 03:40

MICHELLE AZOUT (photo credit: Carlos Aristizabal)

Earlier this year, Michelle Azout, a Miami-based art adviser, received an encrypted text message from a colleague, Israeli painter Guy Yanai. It read, “You’re in good company” and included a screenshot – but Azout had no idea what Yanai was referring to. 

For a moment, Azout thought it was a good thing. “I expected something good, like a mention in an article.” But to her dismay, the text reopened a new wound – one that she’s getting used to as a supporter of Israel and a professional in the international art world.“When I opened it, it was a punch to the stomach,” says Azout. “I found a screenshot of an iPhone note titled ‘Zionists in the Arts.’ This was evidently a blacklist created by a group of New York and Los Angeles artists in an Instagram chatroom in order to launch a boycott of arts professionals perceived as supporters of Israel,” she explains.

“Amid a slew of names ranging from owners of blue-chip galleries to artists, curators, and journalists (all but one of them Jewish), I was shocked to see my name.”  

The goal of the blacklist, according to the screenshots, was to take the “power” back from the “Zionists,” stop them from “manipulating” the art market and from having so much “control” over the artists’ careers.

Visitors view Homeland (credit: Zina Perlman)

“The creators wrote of how infuriating it was to be ‘silenced and bullied by the Zionists’ and how by building, maintaining, and adding to the list, they would be able to ‘take money out of these Zionists’ pockets,’” Azout describes.

“More shocking, many of the artists that participated in the creation of this list are represented by major New York and Los Angeles galleries.”  

Since Oct. 7, it’s become almost trendy to oust Israeli artists. 

The blacklist Azout found herself on was just one example of how professionals in the arts have turned on their Zionist colleagues, intent on proliferating a disdain for the support of Israeli art. 

For example, on October 19, 2023 – just 12 days after Hamas’s brutal attack on Israel – Artforum published an open letter criticizing the war in Israel.

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The letter on the well-respected art publication stated its intent was to show “support for Palestinian liberation and call for an end to the killing and harming of all civilians, an immediate ceasefire, the passage of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and the end of the complicity of our governing bodies in grave human rights violations and war crimes.” 

It goes on to rebuke Israel and Zionism for its “war crimes,” with no mention of the heinous attack that had just occurred. 

“Many art professionals have been vocal about pro-Palestinian support, attempting to oust Israeli artists not only from galleries but from conversations around it, too,” says Azout. “While seeing my name on the list immediately produced a visceral reaction, I was not completely surprised. Ever since Oct.7., I have been very vocal (on and off line) about my support for Israel and my concern for the hostages in Gaza.”  

For the art adviser, it’s not only a disappointment because of the palpable tension felt personally and professionally – in principle, it’s antithetical to her democratized philosophy when it comes to sharing art. 

Her goal as an art adviser is creating bridges, and she sees art as a means for sharing ideas and values, cherishing the opportunity to have real conversations about important world topics. 

How is it possible for Israelis to have a voice when they’re being so vigorously silenced? 

“These are the individuals who have real-life experience in the region and can offer different perspectives on Israeli culture,” says Azout. 

As Azout found herself reckoning with a cultural war in the art world, she reflected even more on her deep-rooted connection to Zionism. “The resilience of Israeli people to keep going forward is very admirable,” she says.

“I decided to stay on my course, put blinders on, and do good where I can instead of trying to battle others. The way I see it, the closer we can get to people living in Israel, the better we can develop these relationships, collaborations, and dialogue. We live in a globalized world, and there’s so much potential to connect and communicate.”  

Enter: The ‘Homeland’ exhibition 

Recognizing that, more than ever there was a more important need to support Israeli art, Azout’s work gradually became intertwined with an existential purpose. 

Instead of losing her professional ground, she pivoted – this time, with her eyes on the Israeli art world. Azout has been an avid collector of Israeli artwork herself, but it was at this moment that she decided, as an art adviser in Miami, to bring it deeper into her advisory practice.

Her recent undertaking, an exhibition titled “Homeland,” is evidence of that in a big, culminating way. 

The show, which ran from November 14-17 in Miami, had three main goals: to support Israeli artists financially (and emotionally); to foster a renaissance of Zionism by bringing Israeli artworks to Miami; and to battle anti-Zionism and antisemitism. 

Featuring more than 120 works – all by Israeli artists – “Homeland” was a huge success on all these fronts. That’s thanks to Azout dedicating over six months to its production, alongside a passionate team of community members, volunteers, and sponsors. 

“I started working on the concept for the show before the blacklist came out; but for me, it was a sort of poetic justice to persevere once that happened,” Azout explains.

For Azout, who had never curated an exhibition before, it all started with supporting one particular Israeli artist, Esther Cohen.

 “I bought a work by Cohen for my birthday. She is an Israeli artist I admire, and I told her how much I love this piece and that so many people have commented on it,” she recalls. 

“She shared with me what a hard time she was having both mentally and economically. To be an artist during a wartime economy was debilitating and not sustainable. She and I kept in touch, and an idea started to brew in the back of my mind: an exhibition to celebrate Israeli artists.”

Azout started working on the concept – planning, fundraising, and building a support team. At the time, she envisioned her exhibition as a modest show featuring around 15 works. She assumed it would be impactful, but modest, and held in a small gallery space. But when man – even the meticulous Azout – plans, God laughs. 

“A colleague who wanted to be involved said she had the perfect space, which was essentially a large warehouse.” 

Azout knew this was a great opportunity – bigger than her initial dream but perfect for the potential of the show. Of course, that presented her with a curatorial challenge. “Everything I did for the show had to be high quality, and when I saw the space, I knew what it would take to fill that room. I knew it would need to be around 100 artworks.” 

Azout didn’t stop the momentum, she embraced it. And one of the most heartwarming parts of this story is that she wasn’t alone. This was a chance to leverage a concrete sense of support from her colleagues around the world, which is natural for an adept networker like Azout. 

“In planning the exhibition, I reconnected with artists whom I had worked with in the past, and I developed new relationships with artists that I only met due to the war,” she says.

She pulled all her resources, reaching out to Israeli artists in her network and gaining support from local professionals in the Israeli art scene.

 For example, Sarah Peguine and Michal Freedman, founders of Art Source, an online platform for promoting and collecting Israeli art, became one significant source for connecting Azout with new participants. 

This month, ‘Homeland’ was presented to Miami 

The exhibition is a visual homage to the Land of Israel through a wide range of media, such as painting, prints, photography, digital art, sculpture, and textiles. 

Not only did “Homeland” bring together over 40 contemporary and historic Israeli artists, it also offered a profound exploration of their relationship to the land – a topic that reflects multifaceted realities and perspectives but is nearly void in conversations happening in the international art world today.  

Curating an exhibition that would facilitate a strong dialogue with the Miami community was important to Azout. 

“I’m for art that people can understand, and I like breaking boundaries,” she says. “We wanted the show to have a very focused curatorial lens. That lens was going to be the landscape of Israel, but we wanted to push boundaries of what a landscape could look like.” 

The works exhibited in “Homeland” explore the landscape of Israel in all its contrasts, spanning multiple generations: ancient and modern, urban and rural, desert, and sea. 

Visitors encountered works by Miriam Cabessa, who won the Israeli Culture Ministry’s Lifetime Achievement Award; collaborative pieces by the dynamic duo Nitzan Mintz and Dede Bandaid, known for their distinctive street art; as well as rising stars of the Israeli art scene, such as Hagai Farago, Iris Cintra, and Ronen Tanchum. 

Complementing contemporary works were pieces by renowned historic artists, such as Menashe Kadishman, Liliane Klapisch, and Rudi Weissenstein. Each participating artist has played a pivotal role in shaping Israel’s artistic identity – today and over previous decades.

From a numbers perspective, the show was an astounding success. In the end, Azout had no problem filling the walls or the halls of her venue. Hundreds of people, many from Azout’s diverse South Florida community, showed up to support the show on its opening night. 

Between a discrete online pre-sale and three days of the show, over half of the artworks on display sold by the end of the exhibition. 

“Commercially, we’re very happy with that,” says Azout. “I think it was a great surprise to see people’s enthusiasm sales-wise. It was successful, and we’re still selling work online.”

“Homeland,” of course, showed its support for Israeli artists in more ways than sales.

Hagai Farago, a printmaker in Tel Aviv, sheds light on the importance of an exhibition like this being organized abroad, saying that “taking part in the ‘Homeland’ exhibition is a much-needed source of optimism in today’s bleak climate. 

“When numerous voices act to delegitimize Israeli artists instead of seeking the dialogue and cure that can be found in art, this initiative truly sets new foundations for the exchange of experiences and sentiments,” he says. “And it might be, after all, a very Jewish thing: fostering new collaborations and finding true allies, even in the most challenging of times.” 

It was an equally important and unifying event for the community in Miami, too. “I think the impact on our community was remarkable,” Azout reflects. “We brought together a group of individuals from different parts of the Miami community – older, younger, religious, secular, Jewish, not Jewish. The crowd was large and diverse.” 

At a time when we’re caught in endlessly depressing new cycles and social media feeds full of depressing images of Israel, what a bold and poignant idea to (in Azout’s words) foster a renaissance in the dialogue surrounding Zionism. “This exhibition reflects the powerful role that art plays in expressing our shared values – rooted in history, but ever-evolving with contemporary voices.” 

As we wrapped up our conversation in the days following the finale of “Homeland,” Azout expressed excitement over receiving photos from a couple who had purchased works from the show. 

She was impressed that in less than 24 hours after picking up their new Israeli art, they already had it framed and hung on the wall. And I must admit, I myself got chills thinking about the 65+ Israeli artworks that were about to be displayed in their new homes. 

A lot of people (myself included) are asking Azout what will come next in this chapter of her career. Many are already inquiring about her next Israeli art exhibition abroad or wondering if “Homeland” itself will travel. She doesn’t have those answers just yet. 

But when she and I shared a smile over a collector hanging on his wall his very first artwork made in Israel, about Israel, by an Israeli artist, I thought: “What comes next is the new life cycle of this artwork – the people who will see it, the questions that will be raised, the conversations that will be had.” In a big way, what comes next is new encounters with the Land of Israel.

“It’s been the honor of my career to work on this project and to be the gatekeeper and facilitator of this,” Azout tells me before we part. “I think it’s really unique to work on something that has to do with your profession but also your life. 

“We are a global community, and it was very special to be able to be the engine behind pushing all of it and have a synergy between people in Israel and the community in the Diaspora.”

While “Homeland” closed on November 17, sales continue online through its website until the end of December. www.homelandartshow.com