Ido Michaeli is a multidisciplinary artist whose work resides on the seam of art, design and craft and utilizes textile, stained-glass, ceramic, digital painting and painting. Michaeli's projects address questions of multiculturalism, identity politics, world economy and postcolonialism. They are based on collaboration with traditional artisans from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Palestine, India, and China, and have been exhibited extensively in galleries and museums around the world.
Michaeli holds a Masters of Art and a bachelors of Design, both from the Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem.
B. 1980, Lives and works in New York & Connecticut, USA
My projects are a form of social practice, based on engagement with different artisans. As a way to create a platform for collaboration with specific communities.
The work often addresses questions of social justice, cross-culturalism, identity politics, global economy, and post-colonialism. I work with diverse mediums such as stained glass, ceramic tiles, painting, video, and digital apps, but my main medium is fiber art: I create elaborate images, rich in details, references, and narratives and send them overseas to be hand-woven by traditional crafters on luxurious textiles, such as carpets, tapestries, and embroideries.
Born to an immigrant family, I grew up on the seam of conflicting identities: The Eastern traditions of my family versus the Western environment we were living in. This cultural split made me constantly juggle between different cultural codes; an experience that deepened even further a decade ago when I moved to the United States and became an immigrant myself.
My main motivation as an artist is to challenge cultural, racial, and political stereotypes, and to bring together clashing worldviews. I believe that art enables us to find the common ground where it seems as if there is none. Through art, I draw attention to often-overlooked traditions, to offer a conversation between cultures and between countries.