Stellusz place

is pleased to present its central exhibition for 2025:

Vangelis Kyris: Light & Thread

  A Voyage through the Collection of

Jewish and Local Costumes at MUZA

MUZA, Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv, presents the exhibition: Vangelis Kyris: Light & Thread, A Voyage through the Collection of Jewish and Local Costumes at MUZA. In this extraordinary photography project, the internationally recognized Greek artist Vangelis Kyris turns his lens on MUZA’s rare costume collection – now being exhibited for the first time to the general public.

Exhibition Curator: Raz Samira

Opening to the general public: Friday, March 28, 2025

A journey through time and space – forging connections between photography, fashion and embroidery.

The exhibition Vangelis Kyris: Light & Thread is more than a photography exhibition – it offers a journey in time and space that brings together different cultures through a stunning fusion of visual art forms. It creates an encounter between contemporary photography and traditional craft, while weaving an intergenerational Jewish story by means of photography and embroidery.

The photographer Vangelis Kyris, a native of Athens specializing in fashion, portrait and art photography, was invited by MUZA, Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv, to photograph the stunning costume collection of the Jewish Culture and Folklore Pavilion. 

The collection includes complete outfits alongside various clothing items, headdresses, jewelry and prayer shawls, all from the 18th–20th centuries. These pieces originated in Jewish communities around the world, including Central Asia (Bukhara), Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Ethiopia, Tunisia, Libya, Morocco, Turkey, Greece, the Balkans, Poland, France, and the Netherlands, and additional countries.

In February 2024, in the middle of the “Swords of Iron” war, Vangelis Kyris arrived in Israel with his team and photographed over 80 male and female models in MUZA’s Jewish Culture and Folklore Pavilion. 

The dramatic photographs were printed on large stretches of cotton, which were then embroidered at Atelier Kyris with gold, delicate metal and cotton threads to manually reconstruct ancient traditions. The connection forged between photography and traditional craft creates an innovative dialogue.

Kyris, one of Europe’s most prominent fashion and art photographers, is known for a dramatic photographic style inspired by Renaissance and Baroque painting, and characterized by dramatic lighting, chiaroscuro, complex theatrical compositions, careful staging and a rich palette. In the current exhibition, he offers an innovative approach that relates to ancient traditions, bringing the historical costumes to life by photographing them and then manually embroidering details upon the printed photographs.

Kyris creates a fusion between art photography and the world of fashion, and his works have been featured at leading cultural venues around the world: the Acropolis in Athens and additional venues in Thessaloniki, Paris, Venice and Seoul. He has collaborated with international fashion houses, including Georgio Armani.

Featured alongside the photographs are six original costumes from the collection, which enhance the visitors’ experience and underscore the unique encounter between history, culture and materiality.

Director General of MUZA, Ami Katz: “We have long awaited the opening of this exhibition, which symbolizes for us a deep connection between contemporary art and the rare collection of the Jewish Culture and Folklore Pavilion here at MUZA. Vangelis Kyris’ project highlights the rich culture of Jewish communities in the Diaspora from a unique artistic perspective that combines portraiture, costumes and embroidery in a deeply moving, multilayered creative project. We are excited to present this outstanding connection between past and present, between contemporary art and ancient traditions.”

Exhibition Curator and Chief Curator of MUZA, Raz Samira: Vangelis Kyris’ work offers a fascinating encounter between mediums – photography meets embroidery, light meets textile, and portraiture becomes material and tactile. His unique artistic language brings tradition to the fore, while simultaneously endowing it with an innovative, contemporary interpretation. This exhibition speaks not only of the past, but of current perceptions of art, craft and visual identity.”

The costumes featured in the exhibition come together to form a narrative with

multiple voices and faces, which offers a unique perspective on the visual and material

history of Jewish communities in the Diaspora alongside local Jewish, Christian

and Muslim communities. The “unification” of the costumes in the exhibition is an act that offers solace during these difficult times, which are marked by struggles over the definition of identity and the absence of a social consensus concerning shared values. Kyris uses a thread and needle to embroider together fashion photography, art photography, art-historical influences, Jewish history and local history, while employing dramatic lighting to shape a harmonious interplay of colors, forms, symbols and textures. Together, these elements embroider a singular story, which is recounted with great talent by Vangelis Kyris.

The exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive bilingual catalogue featuring Kyris’ stunning photographs. The catalogue includes material and historical information concerning close to 100 costumes from different communities in the Diaspora, which are all featured in the exhibition, as well as compelling texts.

Catalogue designers: Magen Halutz and Adam Halutz

Vangelis Kyris: Light & Thread

  A Voyage through the Collection of

Jewish and Local Costumes at MUZA

MUZA, Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv / Rothschild Center

Opening: March 28, 2025

Closing: November 30, 2025
 

Address: MUZA, Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv, 2 Haim Levanon St., Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv

Admission fee: NIS 58 |Free admission for visitors under 18 and soldiers

Students: NIS 35 | Senior Citizens: NIS 26

 Opening hours:

Mon, Wed 10:00 am–4:00 pm

Tue, Thu 10:00 am–8:00 pm

Fri 10:00 am–2:00 pm

Sat 10:00 am–6:00 pm

The museum is closed on Sundays

Phone: 03-6415244

Website: https://www.eretzmuseum.org.il/

Faceboook:  https://www.facebook.com/eretzmuseum/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eretzisraelmuseum/

קרדיט צילום של כל התמונות – ונגליס קיריס.