The work of renowned ultra-Orthodox poet Zelda has inspired a new art show in Jerusalem. The exhibition, scheduled to open on Sept. 15 as part of the Manofim Contemporary Art Festival, is titled "It's Strange to Be a Woman." Born in Poland in 1914, the late Zelda Schneersohn Mishkovsky was a daughter of the great-great-grandson of the third Lubavitcher rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneersohn. Her work was first published in 1967 and was lauded for being spiritual but also direct and colorful, garnering an immediate and large following among the religious and secular alike. She won several prestigious awards, including the 1971 Brenner Prize, the 1978 Bialik Prize for Literature, and the 1982 Wertheim Prize. She passed away in 1984. The Studio of Her Own art group, which has been operating for six years as a platform to promote religious female artists, as well as Arab women and victims of domestic abuse, partnered with local Jewish poetry magazine Meshiv Haruach on a special issue celebrating the late poet's 100th birthday, which featured poems by young Israeli writers alongside illustrations by studio artists. Tzipi Mizrahi, head of Studio of Her Own, said the collaboration produced so many works of art that an exhibition was the best way to showcase all of them. She said the artists "found they had so much in common with Zelda, a religious, even haredi, woman who wrote postmodern poetry that was well ahead of her time. Our artists are also pioneers, both in the [religious] sector and in the Israeli art scene: religious women, mothers, creating contemporary, alive and kicking art."
