Uri Sharon, 24, a Magen combat soldier and artist, says a school bus ride drove home how children in Israel are processing war differently than adults. He overheard a second-grader explain smart-watch reminders by saying she could use one to remember her father’s birthday, because he was murdered on October 7, and then the children simply moved on to talking about games. Sharon says that helped him understand how children live with sadness as part of life, including the Russian word “toska,” a kind of living sorrow.
Sharon’s work, including combat photographs from Khan Yunis and watercolor paintings of children from the Gaza border area, is being shown in the “End of Childhood” exhibition at the upcoming Fresh Paint fair for art and design, held June 24 to 29 at the Kramnitski Technology Center in Tel Aviv. His portfolio grew out of a string of reserve duty periods, and at the time of publication he was likely back in Lebanon for another round. He says the military and civilian worlds felt surreal and mixed together, with soldiers receiving sushi, donations, and even performances by Eden Ben Zaken amid the war.
On October 7, while on regular service, Sharon entered Kibbutz Kfar Aza near the place where he was born and raised, Havat Shikmim. The first building his unit cleared was a children’s house, where he noticed handprints painted on the walls and told a comrade that after the war he wanted to return and work with those children. After leaving active service, he studied oil painting in Italy, then joined the effort to set up a school for evacuee children from the Gaza border, first in Shefayim and later in Ruhama, and is now also mentoring one child personally.
Sharon says working with the children taught him that choice and autonomy are crucial, because “they took away their choice and I’m trying to restore the feeling that they have options.” He also says he sees a strong parallel between how children and adults handle pressure, and that he wants to be an adult who accepts everything and understands what children are going through. The project also reflects his family background: he is the grandson of former prime minister and army commander Ariel Sharon, who bought Havat Shikmim and died in January 2014 after years in a coma following a stroke. Sharon says he is proud of his family and admires his grandfather, whom he remembers as loving, present, and a source of strength, especially in wartime.
