Haya Graetz-Ran is based in Kiryat Tivon in the Jezreel Valley. She studied goldsmithing at the Tel-Hai Academic College and graphic design at the Technion Academy, but her artistic activity focuses on painting.
H. Graetz-Ran’s subjects deal with the local history of Jewish pioneers in pre-state Israel/Palestine, during the 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly narratives that are absent from that of mainstream Zionists, as she gives centre stage to the female experience. By using historical photographs taken from family albums and converting them into paintings, she both revives the past and stimulates discourse on forgotten gendered issues.
In the Pioneers series (1995-present), for example, H. Graetz-Ran focuses on the story of pioneer women who came to Palestine in the 1920s, imbued with ideals of socialism, equality and dreams of building a new reformed society. In this series the artist seeks to make a historical justice and turns her gaze away from the known, canonical narrative of male pioneers, to allow a glimpse into the lives of women for whom equality remained but a myth. Another way of emphasising this point, was through the artist’s frequent use of wooden cutting boards as a medium on which she paints her images, stereotypically symbolizing the female domestic, non-public sphere.

Through reading archival documents of confessional diaries of female pioneers, H. Graetz-Ran was exposed to the strength and resilience of women pioneers in the face of emotional and physical difficulties in harsh land they settled in, as they experienced de-legitimation and silencing by a patriarchal society.

In H. Pioneer Dies (2014), for example, the artist focused on a photograph of the female pioneer Shoshana Bogin, who died at the age of 21 and was immortalised by an anonymous male photographer. In her painting, H. Graetz-Ran replaces Shoshana’s head with her own portrait. This exchange creates a mix between the personal and the collective, and instead of a man’s point of view, the painting conveys a female perspective.

Another series by H. Graertz-Ran, Good Girls (2000-2016) is based on childhood albums of women born in Pre-State Israel. In all the albums she researched, the artist found similar images showing girls wearing short dresses or pants with elastic bands and leather sandals with folded white socks. The photographs were taken by male photographers in public parks, photographing girls for money. In her paintings, however, H. Graetz-Ran depicts the girls without heads, which obliges the viewer to focus on the lower part of their bodies, especially their bare legs and intimate body parts, sometimes enabling a glimpse of their underwear.

Hence, H. Graetz-Ran intentionally emphasises the viewer’s voyeuristic gaze and thus provokes a poignant discussion about issues of silenced sexual harassment during both the idealised Pre-State period and today.

H. Graetz-Ran has exhibited her work in prominent museums and galleries in Israel, Europe, Japan and the United States. Her solo exhibitions include Protecting Broken Boulders at Beth Hashomer Museum, Kfar Giladi and Izraeliyot [Jezreel Valley Girls] at the Dwek Gallery, Jerusalem in 2014.