Women on the frontlines highlighted in art exhibit near Gaza border

‘Women Tell War: Voices from the Front’ opens at Kibbutz Dorot at the end of October

By Jessica Steinberg

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9 October 2025, 9:30 am

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Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center

A selection of artworks showcasing the challenges faced by women who have been serving in the Israeli security forces since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack will be displayed starting at the end of this month in an exhibit in a southern Israel town near the Gaza border.

“Women Tell War: Voices from the Front” will open on October 31 at Eden 51 at Kibbutz Dorot, and will run through April 30, 2026.

The artworks are the product of a project carried out by the Eden Association, an organization active since 1997 in the Gaza border region that specializes in trauma treatment for women.

Following the October 7 terror onslaught, the association developed several new projects, including the October 7th Herstory, to bring forth the stories and voices of women from that day and the ensuing war.

As part of October 7th Herstory, Eden put together “Women Tell War,” a project that documents the experiences and traumas of more than 80 women.

Nine female artists — Alicia Shahaf, Dalit Proter, Orly Landwer Tarlovsky, Leeor Shtainer, Limor Klein Tivoli, Limor Zarfaty Max, Merav Sudaey, Noa Fein and Yael Serlin — created works that express the experiences of strength and vulnerability, complexity and trauma described by the women, in the exhibit curated by Nurit Tal-Tenne.

Dalit Proter’s oil paintings on linen are based on testimonies, photographs, and her own complex feelings as the mother of a female combat soldier who has been serving in the reserves since October 7, 2023. ‘Yes Mom, I’ve Been at the Junction for Two Hours Already,’ she is portrayed in full uniform, part of the ‘Women Tell War: Voices from the Front’ exhibit at Kibbutz Dorot, opening on October 31, 2025 (Courtesy)

The artworks describe testimonies from different women, including an X-ray technician at the Shura base, where an IDF forensics unit examined hundreds of bodies after October 7.

Other artworks were inspired by stories from a logistics commander carrying bodies from the fields, as well as a young officer compiling lists of missing persons.

The testimonies of the women combat soldiers — like threads of gold — tell of battles, sacrifice, pain, compassion, and courage and find expression in Yael Serlin’s work ‘The Weaver, Trees of Life and Golden Threads,’ part of the ‘Women Tell War: Voices from the Front’ exhibit at Kibbutz Dorot, opening on October 31, 2025. In March 2024, Serlin’s son, soldier Yosef Haim Tzvi, was killed in battle. (Courtesy)

One artwork is based on the experiences of a female doctor who served with battalions in Gaza.

Another piece examines the work of a female member of Lehava, the Special Rescue Unit of the national Fire and Rescue Services, who was in Kibbutz Be’eri after October 7 and then at the sites of the rocket strikes in central Israel.

“Women Tell War” opens October 31, at 11 a.m. at Eden Association’s space at Kibbutz Dorot.