Malca Levy
October 11, 2022
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From the artist:
“It was during a six-month period of unemployment that I discovered painting. With no formal training, I let intuition guide my hand, exploring, searching, gradually giving shape to a style that spoke my own inner language. I painted faces drawn from photographs, not to replicate them, but to capture fleeting emotions, translating them into a silent dialogue with the viewer.
In 2011, a gallery entrusted me with my first exhibition, allowing me to realize a dream: to give form to emotion, and to share it with others through art. Influenced by contemporary artistic movements, especially German and Belgian Expressionism, my work also carried the vibrant imprint of African art, a natural echo of my childhood in the Congo.
The human face, that endless landscape of soul and memory, was always the heart of my work. Through the contrast of colors and the rawness of gesture, I sought to reveal what lies beneath. The eyes of my characters held a central place: sometimes distant, sometimes enigmatic, they wandered elsewhere or silently called out for a gaze. Each canvas was a crossing between personal experience and a broader cultural memory, a fusion of journeys, histories, and emotion.”
~ Claude Benatar
Claude Benatar founded the ‘Jews of Rhodes: Family Memories & Heritage’ group in 2019, which has since grown to over 2,800 members worldwide.
The group’s community page is dedicated to preserving the memory of the lost Jewish community of Rhodes, which tragically vanished in 1944, leaving behind echoes of their lives. Their homes and belongings were left on the island, lost in time.
By sharing photographs and information on the group’s page, members help reconnect with loved ones and honor their memory. The page also celebrates the brave immigrants who left the Island of the Roses in the late 1800s in search of better lives in distant lands. In each country where they settled, they created unique and remarkable stories. Thanks to these pioneers, our community, though scattered across the globe, remains vibrant, and our rich cultural traditions continue to thrive.
For more information, please visit: Jews of Rhodes: Family Memories & Heritage
The book “RHODES, CONGO, BRAZIL: A Sephardic Memory – Journeys of the Benatar and Hasson Families” (Paperback, 2025) by Claudio Benatar is now available on Amazon.
From the island of Rhodes to Central Africa, and across to Brazil, this book traces the intertwined destinies of two Sephardic Jewish families: the Benatar and the Hasson.
Through a meticulous and heartfelt investigation, drawing on archives, photographs, oral testimonies, and period advertisements, the author brings to light the forgotten journeys of these pioneers, once subjects of the Ottoman Empire, driven into exile by history and guided by a spirit of trade and survival.
In retracing their paths, Claudio restores presence and dignity to lives that history has often overlooked. He pays tribute to those who left a Mediterranean island to shape an uncertain future elsewhere. And above all, he seeks to pass on to his own, to readers, to those still searching for their roots, the belief that every life is worth telling.
