Artist Statement
Painting begins where language becomes insufficient. Each work emerges from an intuitive response to movement, memory, and fragments of lived experience. Through layers of paint, I explore the fragile boundary between personal and collective narratives, where human figures, animals, landscapes, and everyday objects become symbolic carriers of emotion and meaning.
Working primarily in muted palettes, I am interested in what remains after the immediate event has passed: traces of memory, silence, vulnerability, and resilience. Rather than illustrating reality, I seek to transform it into images that invite contemplation and multiple interpretations.
Over the past several years, my work has evolved in response to the profound social and political transformations that have shaped life in Israel. The protests surrounding the constitutional crisis and the events of October 7 form part of the emotional landscape from which these paintings emerge. Rather than depicting these events directly, I explore their traces—the uncertainty, loss, endurance, and hope that remain within personal and collective memory.
Throughout this body of work, horses emerge as recurring motifs—silent witnesses to changing realities. They embody both strength and vulnerability, becoming metaphors for the complex relationship between power, fragility, and endurance.
I see painting as an act of witnessing and reflection. Through restrained imagery and layered surfaces, I seek to create spaces where memory, emotion, and ambiguity coexist, allowing viewers to bring their own experiences into dialogue with the work.
Laya Navaro - Artist CV
lives & work in the vibrant metropolis of Tel Aviv, Israel
Education
2022-2024 - M.Ed - Faculty of Arts, Kibbutzim College.
2010- 2015 - B.Ed.F.A at The Faculty of Arts, Hamidrasha at Beit Berl College, Israel
Exhibitions & Galleries
2025 — Super Sparta, Group Exhibition, Rothschild 69 Gallery, Tel Aviv. Curators: Shira Nina Tayar & Hila Brenner
2024 — Graduate Group Exhibition, ABR Program, Faculty of the Arts, Kibbutzim College of Education, , Ahuzat Bayit Gallery, Shalom Tower, Tel Aviv. Curator: Dr. Hadara Sheflan Katzav
2024- ״Together”, a group Exhibition, Pop-Up Art Exhibit, May 16, 2024, New York, Midtown Manhattan,, USA. Curators:Lilian Kebudi & Annette Back
2024- “Bein Azmanim”- a group Exhibition,Faculty of Arts, Kibbutzim College, Curator: Dr. Hadara Shaplan Katzav.
2022- “Zarkor Enoshi”- a group Exhibition- Exhibition for a nonprofit organization Youth, At-Risk, Elderly, and Women's Integration in Tel Aviv-Yafo - Curator: Vered Gasdash.
2021- 2023- represented by "Ahalal" Gallery for Israeli art– Orbach St. 2, corner of Eilat St. Jaffa, Tel Aviv.
2021- a group exhibition "A dream house or a dream of a house", Curator: Boris Sultana.
2020 - "The (Far from the) Turmoil" Online group show via the Organ https://organthing.com/2020/05/14/organ-cultivate-presents-far-from-the-turmoil-an-on-line-art-exhibition/
2017- a group exhibition, "Bemabat Yashir", Diamond Gallery, Ramat-Gan Theatre, Ramat Gan, Curator: Galit Zimbelist.
2017- "Art Olympia"- International Open Art Competition, Tokyo, Japan.
(I was Chosen by judges to be one of the 180 finalists' artists) / Live Broadcast: https://youtu.be/UmTK2eTBLQk
2016-2019 - A group Exhibition &Residency, Carmel Forest Spa Resort, Haifa, Israel, "Triangle" "Forests art project" Curator: Sharon Toval.
2016 -"Art Camp" The Negev Museum of Art, Beer-Sheva, Israel, September Curator: David Wakshtein.
2016- a Group exhibition “Traces of the real", Central Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Israel, 2016Curator: Doron Furman
2015- "College Graduate Exhibition" The Faculty of Arts "Hamidrasha" Beit Berl College, Kfar Saba, Israel, Curators: Ruthi Helvitz Cohen & Barak Ravitz.