A mile from the DNC, a giant pair of bloody sweatpants evokes the horror of Oct. 7

A mile from the DNC, a tribute to the Israeli hostages features a 22-foot replica of the bloody sweatpants worn by 19-year-old Naama Levy, one of the 100-plus Israelis still in captivity in Gaza. Photo by Jodi Rudoren

You can glimpse part of Tomer Peretz’s artwork from the street, but not really make out what it is; gray fabric splattered with paint flapping in the summer breeze a few feet from a wall of beige brick here in Chicago’s West Loop.

To really see it you have to walk inside the fenced-off lot festooned with Israeli and American flags, let the security guard check your bag and go through the metal detector. You have to pass by the giant milk cartons depicting some of the people killed and abducted by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7 and the charcoal sketches of the same victims hung on clotheslines under yellow balloons.

As you approach, you will see that the gray fabric is gathered with elastic at the bottom like sweatpants, and then you realize the splattered acrylic paint is meant to evoke blood. This is a 22-foot replica of the bloody sweatpants worn by 19-year-old Naama Levy, one of the 100-plus Israelis still in captivity in Gaza, in a video that went viral on Oct. 7 as one of the earliest hints of the sexual violence committed as part of the massacre.

“The idea is to touch people’s emotions and to stab them a little in the heart and the stomach,” Peretz, who grew up in Jerusalem and lives in Los Angeles, told me.

“When people see clothing with blood, it shrinks them, it makes them ask what it is,” he added. “If you drive downtown Chicago right now, you will see a lot of billboards and ads for clothing. Everything is so clean and so beautiful and so fashionable. The idea here is to create something that is a contrast. I see darkness right now, and I think it’s OK to show the darkness.”

more...