Rayna Moss
Israeli Committee to Free Mordechai Vanunu
January 20 2000
Visitors to the newest exhibition of Israeli artist Micky Tropher, in The Expert Gallery in Tel-Aviv, are met with a huge cloth banner at the entrance to the gallery: "Mordechai Vanunu, languishing in prison for 4,853 days. Free him now!".
When curator Buki Greenberg first saw Tropher's unusual sculptures - life-size figures constructed entirely of barbed wire and enclosed in a maze-like structure criss-crossed with barbed wire and reminiscent of a detention camp - he immediately thought of prisoners, and especially Israel's most famous political prisoner, Mordechai Vanunu. He suggested to the artist to dedicate the exhibition to Vanunu, and Tropher enthusiastically agreed. Almost 100 people, who braved stormy weather to participate in the opening on January 20, also heard a speech by Gideon Spiro, a founder of the Israeli Committee for Mordechai Vanunu and the reading of Vanunu's poem, I Am Your Spy.
Greenberg said, that it was impossible to see the sculptures and not think of Vanunu behind prison bars. He said that the banner would hang outside the gallery for the duration of the exhibition and would be updated daily.
Micky Tropher's exhibition, Barbed Wire, is shown at the Expert Gallery, 40 Shabazi St. Neve Tsedek, Tel-Aviv, until February 19. For more information, call telephone number 03-5107854.