Between Arab Chic and Shas Chic: Sigalit Banai and her Particular Artistic Vision in Contemporary Hebrew Poetry

Abstract

Performance art, theatre and cinema influence Sigalit Banai’s poetic compositions, being the ground from which her artistic creations arise. Through this mixture of genres, Banai speaks and writes about different themes, transforming herself into a character in her poems and representing different experiences that explore and question Israeli identity in its broadest sense. Through the analysis of her first two books, Hatikva Neighborhood, Cairo (2013) and Hebrew Woman (2016), which are considered intimately connected to each other, this article aims to describe Banai’s unique way of writing and her relation with the Hebrew and Arabic languages inside and outside the Israeli society.