Philadelphia artists paint 200+ portraits of Israeli hostages as part of museum installation

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- As the United Nations Security Council pushes for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages, several Philadelphia-area artists are doing what they can to keep those hostages top-of-mind.

Their work is the focus of a new installation at the Weitzman Museum of American Jewish History.

"I've gotten to know these people. I've looked in their eyes," said Sivia Katz Braunstein as she looked up at a wall filled with dozens of paintings.

The faces in those paintings fill the walls of the atrium at the Weitzman Museum in Old City.

"These are pictures of happy people from good times," said Braunstein of the portraits.

Behind each smile, though, is sorrow because the faces depicted are the faces of hostages.

"For someone's life to be torn apart like that forever, in a moment, it's just overwhelming," said Braunstein.

More than 200 people were taken in the Hamas attacks on October 7, which is a day Braunstein will never forget.

"I was there," she said, telling the story of how she was visiting family in Israel when the terrorist attack happened.

"We were all together behind a steel door," she said. "It was terrifying."

When she returned home to Philadelphia, she knew she had to do something.

"I'm an artist. That's what I do," she said. "I got some boards and I started painting."

She developed a goal to paint individual portraits of each hostage. To accomplish the feat, she asked seven more women artists to join her.

"I really focused on the photograph that I was given and I tried to freeze them in a moment before this descended upon them," said artist Deborah Zakheim.

"I painted one at a time, and it took an hour, usually, for each one," said Braunstein.

As the artists painted, they weren't quite sure what they'd do with the paintings. Then, there was an idea: propose an installation at the Weitzman Museum of American Jewish History featuring the 200+ portraits.

The installation debuted on March 17. It's titled, "Their Portraits: Philadelphia Artists Honor October 7 Hostages."

"The first time I saw it hanging, I started to cry," Zakheim said of the display.

"What these artists have done in painting these portraits will be part of the fabric of the American Jewish life community here," said Tara Theune Davis, director of marketing and communications with the Weitzman Museum of American Jewish History.

Near the portraits is a notebook detailing what's known of each hostage's ordeal.

"It was not just Israelis and not just Jewish people but many people from the United States, from Thailand, from parts of Africa," said Zakheim.

Each face is now on canvas, painted by artists who hope the hostages come home.

"They don't know me, but I feel like I know them, and I'm connected to them," said Braunstein.

The artists hope to, one day, get the portraits to the families of the hostages.

In the meantime, the paintings will be on display at the Weitzman until April 14.