In Re:Collection, Anat Ronen gathers old photographs from the 1970s and ’80s, some from her childhood and others from strangers, and transforms them into a mural layered with paintings. A boy beams from the hood of a bright red car. A toddler stands poolside in oversized shoes. A woman, apron tied, is caught mid-task in the kitchen. A couple poses proudly in front of a car, with a child peering out from the backseat.

Since the COVID pandemic, Anat has collected hundreds of unclaimed photographs from the era of her childhood, searching for images that spark recognition or connection. “The photos I chose might have been my family, in a remote way,” she says. “Going back [to that time] is [my way of] trying to gain back that warmth and sense of safety.”

Anat sources these images from estate sales, online collections, and her personal archive. Dramatically larger than their original size and scattered across the wall as if pulled from a box, they drift between private memory and shared story. Their meaning may be unclear or lost, but in the artist’s hands, they receive a second life.

She paints them as she finds them: some faded photographs, others still vibrant, especially the slides. The shifts in color and material echo the fragile, changing nature of memory—what stays clear and what slips away. The exhibition invites us to reflect on this sense of impermanence, our attempts to hold on through the objects we keep, and the rituals of analog photography. Anat hopes viewers, too, might recognize traces of their own families in these images.

Born in Israel, Anat immigrated to the United States at age 38 and taught herself to paint, building a career from the ground up as a successful muralist. As her practice is mostly focused on commission work for clients, the Jones Artist Awards offered an opportunity to explore her own artistic voice.

Featured images include: