Rising in Art 2011, an exhibition of works by new immigrants, opened in Bat Yam at the New Gallery of Art Institute on Tuesday, December 6 and will be on display until December 30. The annual exhibition showcases the art work of new immigrants to Israel. This year, it also features works by participants in the Young Judean one-year arts track. Lauren Pinkney, a participant in the Young Judea arts track, told Arutz Sheva that as a photographer, “Israel puts a whole new perspective on what I like to take pictures of and what I find inspiring. I’m very inspired by the culture and by the people. It’s an amazing country and I find inspiration everywhere.” “Israel, I feel, has a very rough exterior,” she added. “Some of the things Israel does are attacked by the world and not everyone really understands. They go by what they hear and not about the facts. But still, Israelis are very strong and full of pride. Even though their country has been through so much they still stand strong and stand by their country.” While many of the art pieces of the Young Judea artists express their first time impressions of Israel, the work of the immigrants tends to express the challenges and the processes which they deal with beginning a new life in a new country. This is reflected, for example, in the work of Aharon Kravetz, an artist who was born in the Ukraine and later immigrated to Israel. “Unlike other Russian artists with the European style of gray, blue and purple dark skies, suddenly we can see how he’s dazzled by the desert sunlight we have here in the summer,” curator Shai Pardo told Arutz Sheva . “An Israeli artist used different colors. With him, this is very strong.”