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artandcakela
Jun 22, 20163 min read

Multidisciplinary Artist Malka Nedivi Shares Documentary About Mother’s Troubled Legacy

Studio visit with Malka Nedivi. Photo by Eric Minh Swenson

Studio visit with Malka Nedivi. Photo by Eric Minh Swenson


You are invited

Film Screening: Tzipora’s Nest A documentary by Artist, Malka Nedivi

One Day Only – Free Screening

Skirball Cultural Center 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90049

Sunday July 17th Noon

Please join us for this one time, free screening of artist and filmmaker, Malka Nedivi’s feature length film, Tzipora’s Nest at the Skirball Cultural Center on Sunday, July 17th. Doors open at noon. Movie begins promptly at 12:30pm.

There will be a Q&A between the artist, Malka Nedivi and art critic, Shana Nys Dambrot immediately afterwards.

We will also be sharing Eric Minh Swenson’s short film, Malka Nedivi : Home.


tzipora

One phone call from Israel changed the course of Malka Nedivi’s life and art practice. Her mother’s health was deteriorating and Malka was the only one who could help her. Tzipora’s Nest, screening at Skirball Cultural Center, is the story of Malka’s struggle to help her mother and repair the relationship Malka had fled 17 years before.

Malka found her mother, a Holocaust survivor, alone and surrounded by mounds of hoarded clothing, plastic and papers. Intending to help Tzipora, Malka instead finds herself in an intense battle against her mother’s equally stubborn will. With a movie camera given to her by her husband, Malka documents the six years of her experiences dealing with aging, hoarding and the wrenching struggle of parenting our parents. The emotionally rich film is about a child returning home after many years and getting to know and accept the difficult, loving, unforgettable mother that raised her.

Art Critic Shana Nys Dambrot writes, “There’s a moment toward the end of her documentary, when in confronting the aging, increasingly helpless, defiant hoarder her mother had become toward the end of her life, Tzipora tells Malka that the things she picks up in the streets are “precious treasures,” objects she rescued because they spoke to her, and she was sure she’d find a use for them… someday. She, of course, never did. But Malka, well, she is actually using some of them and many other things like them, in her art, giving them the new life her mother foresaw, even as Malka struggles to heal the traumas that drove her to flee her childhood home.”

Following the death of her mother in 2002, Malka began to create large scale sculptures and collage paintings that explore the emotional connection with the parents she knew and their history that still remains largely unknown. Malka layers and molds fabric, paper and other mixed media, reminiscent of the materials collected by her mother to create a compelling and rich body of work that complements the documentary.

Because of the deeply personal content of the film, Malka had intended to limit the audience to just family and close friends. But she discovered that the film touched a common thread among the viewers and helped them with their own parent relationships.

Tzipora’s Nest screens on July 17th at Skirball Cultural Center.

Tzipora still

Still from “Tzipora’s Nest”


Malka Nedivi is an artist living and working in Los Angeles. She was born in Rehovot, Israel in 1952 an only child to parents who survived the Holocaust and emigrated from Poland. Studying Theater and literature at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, she directed plays and taught theater. In 1980 she moved to Los Angeles, CA with her husband and son to study film at UCLA. She worked as an Assistant Editor from 1987-1992.

Last year Malka had a successful solo art exhibition at the National Council of Jewish Women. In 2012 she had a second solo exhibition at BOA Art Gallery in Los Angeles and in 2013 she was featured in the LA Art Show at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Malka was also chosen as one of the top ten Southern California Contemporary Artists from Israel at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery.  Recently, Malka has had write-ups in the Beverly Press, Jewish Journal, Diversions LA, Filling the Negative Space, Tribe Journal, Trebuchet Magazine and she is the subject of an upcoming feature in the Huffington Post.

Photo by Eric Minh Swenson

Photo by Eric Minh Swenson


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