Tomer Peretz Is Using Art to Heal Witnessing the Horrors of October 7

Tomer Peretz, a visual artist based in Los Angeles, was visiting his home country of Israel when the October 7 massacre happened. He had originally planned to go from the second of that month through the fifteenth and return to his life in LA. But he knew he had to stay and help.

Two days after October 7, Tomer signed up to help ZAKA, Israel’s search and rescue operation. He went to Kibbutz Be’eri, which suffered the biggest loss out of all the kibbutzim targeted: Hamas terrorists had murdered 102 people, which was around one out of every 13 people living in the kibbutz.

Tomer saw the worst of humanity and documented it for the world to see. Since that day, he’s been dealing with his trauma by creating art – by himself and with October 7 survivors.

Tomer with the painting at the Museum: “Before, During, Future”
Photo by Kalia Gisele Littman

“I wanted to create art about what I’ve seen,” he told Aish. “The only people I was able to hang out with or create with were the survivors after October 7. I couldn’t sit at a Shabbat table and talk about a basketball game. The only conversation I could handle was the war. I started to hang out with people who were also part of the war.”

Now, Tomer is the inaugural artist in residence at the Museum of Tolerance in LA, where he debuted his new pieces in an art show on March 19 called “Art Will S8T You Free.” He made the art with October 7 survivors, including those at the Nova festival. His pieces show the destruction that happened that tragic day, as well as the beauty that still exists, and the love that shines through during this dark and difficult time.

“One part of the healing process is the actual process of creating,” Tomer said. “The other element is to show it and tell people about it. It’s to create a dialogue and discussion. We create, we paint, we sculpt, and then we show it. Just showing the artwork is another part of the process of this work with survivors.”

Risking It All to Stand Up for His Beliefs

After posting what he saw in the kibbutz in the aftermath of October 7, Tomer began making art – some very public art, including a huge painting of the name “Hersh” on a wall, with the words “NOT DIED. MURDERED.” above it. He also posted up a bunch of hoodies on a wall in downtown LA that said, “Free Our Hostages,” and displayed a bloody pair of sweatpants that looked like the ones former hostage Naama Levy wore when she was violently abducted. Tomer took that display to the DNC in Chicago this past summer and hung them up to bring awareness to the hostages.

“I lost a lot of friends, my manager, and my artist community,” Tomer said. “Someone shot fireworks into my studio in downtown LA twice. All the anti-Israel protests started right in front of my studio. Some artists I had collaborated with in the past completely flipped on me.”

For the first six months, Tomer struggled. Not only had he seen death and hate up close, but also many around him abandoned him.

“It was so difficult for me,” he said. “I was in a depression. I had a hard time getting back to creating. I felt lost.”

Tomer, a father of three, had already experienced PTSD; he was a soldier in the IDF for four years during the Second Intifada and witnessed people, including his fellow soldiers, dying.

“This was not new to me, as the darkness was something I was bringing up in my art already,” he said. “But after October 7, it took on a different meaning. I had seen dead people in the IDF, maybe one, two, or three at a time – not 50, like I did after October 7,” he said. “It’s a very big difference. I knew I was okay with dealing with blood or seeing hard things, but this was not something I could imagine.”

Though the initial six months after October 7 were incredibly painful, Tomer picked himself up. He became his own manager, gained immense support from the Jewish community, made new friends, and was chosen as the first artist in residence for the Museum of Tolerance.

“I don’t need to hide anything now,” he said. “It feels much better when everything is clear and obvious to me. What you see is what you get.”

Making Art to Heal

One of the most emotional experiences Tomer had was creating art with former hostage Andrei Kozlov, whom the IDF rescued in June of 2024. In interviews, Andrei detailed the psychological and physical abuse he suffered under Hamas throughout his eight months of captivity. Together, he and Tomer traveled together with other survivors as part of Tomer’s “The 8 Project” and painted.

Portrait of Andrei Kozlov by Tomer Peretz (Photo by Kalia Gisele Littman.)

Andrei was not a painter before this, Tomer said. “After working with me in the studio, he now is doing his own art exhibition in Brooklyn. He has a residency there.”

While October 7, as well as the rise in antisemitism, have impacted the Jewish community in negative ways, Tomer is trying to transform what happened into healing – and meaning.

Up until that day, Tomer said he was “one of these people who used to work with a mood board and have goals and photos of the big house I wanted to buy and the car I wanted and all this stuff.” But now, everything has changed.

 

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A post shared by Tomer Peretz (@tomerperetzart)

“Since October 7, I put all that in the trash,” he said. “I decided it doesn’t matter what I am going to do, as long as I am helping others. I want to create. I want to make sure my art inspires people, and that it changes their perspective for the better.”

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