Noa Klagsbald

Noa Klagsbald (b.1992) is an Israeli artist, who specialises in photography and sculpture. Her works focus on the connection between art, sports, and community. She is often present in her works, either explicitly or implicitly. In her photographs, she utilizes the camera to navigate complex social issues such as coexistence and power dynamics.

Klagsbald is a female photographer photographing mostly men and she uses the camera’s authority to reframe gender dynamics. Her practice became a way of engaging with men and presenting a different narrative for masculinity and its role in our society.

In 2022, Klagsbald’s MA Degree show was selected to be presented at the International Space Station as part of Axiom’s first private mission to space and is part of an upcoming solo show at OOF Gallery in London.

In 2021, Klagsbald was chosen by Forbes magazine to be part of the prestigious 30 Under 30 list for young promising talents. Klagsbald's works have been presented in a variety of art galleries and exhibitions and included in international art collections.

I see the sports field as a stage - a place where athletes are artists.

As a die-hard sports fan, I am passionate about incorporating the atmosphere and adrenaline that exists in sports into my art. As an artist, I aspire to use my knowledge in sports to create art that reframes power dynamics. One way that I fuse these two passions is by restaging famous historical paintings of Masters (e.g., Manet, Degas and Velázquez) in sports settings. Through this practice, I create a new dimension to look at art and sports as you will see in this project.

In GOAL, I invite the spectators to peer into a hidden and intimate part of the sports world, its backstage - the locker room. I invite them to experience what it feels like to be in the locker room, to be an insider.

The project tells an untold story of companionship and unity that takes place in the municipal football team of Lod (an impoverished satellite city in Israel). The team, which is comprised of Arab-Israeli and Jewish-Israeli players, is a microcosm of contemporary society in Israel. During the last few years, while national conflicts divided the mixed communities of Israel, especially that of Lod, and weakened the bonds between Palestinians, Arab-Israelis, and Jewish-Israelis, Lod's football team became stronger and more unified than ever.

GOAL offers a different perspective on prejudice and social issues, including masculinity and co-existence. The installation My Olympia’s Locker Room invites the viewer to examine new perspectives and reevaluate existing ones - from how the viewer interacts with the installation itself to how the subject matter reinterprets the status quo. Just as Lod’s football team exhibited a model of unity during times of division, My Olympia’s Locker Room aspires to show viewers the power of adopting a new perspective as a means to creating a better world, environment, and society.