Annual art auction reframes perspectives and fertility

Seventy Jewish women artists and 100 artworks with one shared purpose: helping individuals and couples in the community who are facing infertility.  

This is the premise behind the Malka Ella Fertility Fund’s annual art exhibition and auction, which raises funds for fertility treatment, genetic testing, and fertility preservation.  

Held every 18 months, the exhibition also shines a light on the talent of artists within the community. 

This year’s exhibition, REFRAME, which took place from 16 to 19 August at Schaffler’s Nursery in Johannesburg, explored the transformative power of perspective – the idea that changing the way we see something can change the way we experience it. At the heart of REFRAME was a simple but powerful idea: we may not always be able to change what happens to us, but we can choose how we see it, how we respond to it, and what meaning we find within it. Inspired by Viktor Frankl’s philosophy, the exhibition invited us to shift perspective, spark meaning, and discover hope through the eyes and stories of Jewish women artists.  

The Malka Ella Fertility Fund, founded 25 years ago, provides financial assistance for a wide range of fertility treatments and reproductive care. Funding is available for general fertility treatments including timed cycles, artificial insemination, in vitro fertilisation, and intracytoplasmic sperm injection, as well as preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy and monogenic disorders. The fund also assists women who wish to preserve future fertility through egg freezing.  

To date, more than 480 babies have been born because of the organisation, and more than 1 000 fertility, genetic testing, and egg-preservation procedures have been financed and supported.  

The annual art exhibition serves three main purposes: fundraising; raising awareness of Malka Ella; and supporting Jewish women artists, according to Nicole Hoffman, who created the exhibition alongside Malka Ella’s marketing director, Kate Gershuni. 

“It is an important fundraiser for Malka Ella, while also introducing the wider community to its work and ethos. Because the artworks are auctioned online, the initiative reaches far beyond the physical exhibition and allows more people to learn about the organisation,” Hoffman said. 

The exhibition also gives a platform to 70 Jewish women artists to showcase their work to a large audience. The Malka Ella team searches for months on end for the artists featured in the exhibition.  

“We give a platform to 70 Jewish women who are either professional artists, part-time artists, or hobby artists. Most of them don’t have the opportunity to put their art in front of so many people over a period. So, it’s wonderful exposure for the Jewish women artists themselves,” said Hoffman.  

“And we create this really amazing holy space for these women to display their beautiful art and then for the community to come and enjoy it,” she said.  

The exhibition creates a welcoming Jewish cultural space where people of different ages, backgrounds, and levels of religious observance come together to enjoy art. 

At the same time, the artworks are sold through an online auction, closing on 20 August, at which people from around South Africa can bid for whichever piece speaks to them in increments of R500 or R1 000.  

“Eighty percent of all funds go directly to treatments. There is a portion that covers the cost of the exhibition, obviously. But the funds go directly either to fund fertility treatments or genetic testing. The operational cost of the fund is covered completely separately. It all goes directly to treatments,” Hoffman said.