Transforming Trauma into Art: The Inspiring Story of Tomer Peretz

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Uzi Moses PhD PhD Experience podcast. So in this podcast, we explore the journey and stories of extraordinary individuals making a profound impact on the world. Today, I'm honored to host a remarkable artist whose life story is as compelling as his art. Joining us is Tomer Peretz, a multifaceted individual, multifaceted individual who has served in the Israeli army, bravely helping during the harrowing events of the October 7th and after the events of the October 7th attack on Israel. Now Tomer channels his experiences and emotions into his art, using his creative talents to spread awareness an advocate for peace in the region. So Tomer's journey is one of resilience, creativity, and profound commitment to making a difference. His artwork speaks volumes, shedding light on the realities of war and the human spirit's capacity to endure and thrive. It is a privilege to have him here today to share his story, his art, and his vision. For the future. How are you doing today, Tomer? How's it going?

It's good. It's, it's pretty busy lately. Very. Yeah, but it's good. It's— I'm on the better side of my day today.

Amazing. Amazing. I know that You know, people kind of want to learn a little bit more about you. So can you just like share a little bit like where were you born?

I was born in Jerusalem, 1982. I was raised and grew up and was raised in Jerusalem, Southeast Jerusalem. And at the age of 18, joined the military. I served for almost 5 years. Right after I left Israel. And since then, I'm pursuing my career in Los Angeles for the past, for the last 19 years. Yeah, just everything has been obviously flipped around on October 7th like everybody else. But beside that, I'm I'm a husband, I'm a father. Um, I do have a very, um, you know, I have a family life, you know, when I'm not creating and I'm not in the studio, I'm not doing everything else.

Amazing.

Yeah.

So, so can you share with us a little bit of the journey from like being a soldier for 5 years to becoming an artist? Like the whole artist thing started before you joined the army? It was like something in your nature always since you were a kid, or it's something that while you were in the army, you felt a need to express yourself?

You know, I think it's the only two things that I wanted to do in life. I was painting and drawing since I was very young, since I was like 12, 13, 14 years old. I was doing a lot of graffiti. I was painting on my friends' bedrooms. I was painting and drawing everywhere. But it was not— it was kind of a getaway for me. It was not it was not the coolest thing to do at the surrounding area I grew up at. So, and my father served in Golani, my older brother served in Golani. So that was another thing, which was a big contrast, right? But it was another thing that I wanted to do. I wanted to serve in Golani. I wanted to be, you know, I wanted to protect the country. I grew up in an area where, where everybody were all about that, you know, it was all about protecting the country and that's how I was raised. But I was drawing a lot. So it's like two things that I like to do and I never had other hobbies I wanted, you know, I wanted to do or never had. I never had dreams. It was the only two things I wanted to do. So I joined the military at the age of 18. I stopped painting, obviously, because you don't paint in the military, not where I was. And I was doing my thing. But surprisingly, I was— I left the military after almost 5 years. I was sure I will stay, but something just happened and made me just— I remember I called my father and I told him to buy me a ticket to Brazil one way from Gaza. I was inside Gaza. And that's how I decided to leave the military and just go travel and try to find myself. And then I started to paint right away and I left.

So you served in Golani and you were in Gaza during your service.

Yeah.

And So tell us a little bit. During the October 7th attack, where were you?

I was just visiting Israel. I went to visit.

You were in Israel?

Yeah, I was in Israel. I was on October 2nd already. I was in Israel with my, with Ziv and Roy, my two young boys, and my wife and my older daughter. They stayed here in LA. It was supposed to be kind of a boys' trip. We went for a wedding. I was in Israel. And when everything happened, it just Yeah.

So, so, so, so now you're in Israel, you hear about this whole thing. So how is that affecting you? What are you doing? I mean, as far as like artistically speaking and, and your background in the military, you hear about this horrible event. And from what I remember, I think I saw videos of you working with Zaka. So can you tell us a little bit more what happened there?

Yeah, it was, you know, like everybody, when October 7th happened in the morning, everybody was shocked. So am I. And I just started to call friends from back in the days in the military, friends from Jerusalem, like almost every person I know, how can I help? How can I volunteer? Because a lot of my friends are still doing reserve. So they went on uniform and I don't do reserve. Like I've been living in LA for 19 years, never did reserve. So I felt kind of pointless, helpless, like if I'm not going to do anything. And the first response I got from a friend from Zaka who said, okay, I'll pick you up tomorrow morning. Come help us out. I didn't really think too much. It was an instinct.

It was not really That was October 8th.

That was on October 9th I got picked up.

October 9th.

Yeah. Wow. So it took me like 24 hours to get hold of people, everybody. Like, I, you know, I went, I was in Tel Aviv, went back to Jerusalem to my, my parents and my father and my mother-in-law and left the kids over there. So October 9th in the morning, I was already down south in Be'eri.

Wow. Wow. So you're there and you're seeing and you're experiencing the worst of humanity, the worst thing, and it's in your country, in your people. I can't even imagine the stuff that you saw, you know, and I don't want to really get into it because I think it's very traumatizing even probably, you know, part of the things to see, you know, people in situation like that. But from that point on, when you were there, what happened to you artistically? Something happened like you feel that changed your whole—

At that point, nothing. At that point when I was there, nothing. I was just working and trying to do a good job because I was very new and different to every to all the Zaka members as well. You know, I really wanted to prove myself and do everything as I can to clear out as many dead bodies as possible on time because we were rushed and it was nonstop bodies to clear up and I didn't think about anything else beside just doing what I supposed to do as far as my job. I had a leader over there and the leader was in communication with the head of Zaka and the head of Zaka put us in teams and every team going to a different house and different dead body and we were supposed to recover them and that's the only thing I thought about beside The fact that I took a lot of videos and photos and shared that on with the world because I realized that no one takes photos, no one takes videos over there. And it was very weird to me. I think I was very aware of what's going on. I was not shocked. I was very focused. Like I knew what's going on. I understand what's going on. I was not shocked. So, and I shared everything right away. Right away on social media. So that's how everything started to get all around, right?

So you understood there is a need to let the world right away what's happening, right? And then you started, you know, advocating and, and taking action, uh, to help the PR, the public relations of Israel.

2-3 hours later, 2-3 hours later, like after I, I got there, I started to share stuff on social media.

Was there any moment during your time there in Zaka that was really profound that you want to share? There was something there that was like really—

I have a lot, you know, I don't have the most. I don't have the most. I have a lot. I have a lot. Lately I started to watch my videos even to start even to memorize and not to forget because I understand, you know, I realized that and I went through trauma and I didn't— I don't want to forget that in one way and so I start to memorize what I saw and there is a lot, there is a lot. One of the hardest things to do was that we needed to open different bags to take photos because whoever closed the bags didn't take photos. And the head of that said, okay, we need to take photos because, and because some of the handwriting was not clear because we wrote with a marker on the plastic bag and you can wipe it out real quick. So, so it was not really stick to that. So you couldn't tell what's in the bag. And we had to take a photo before the body get completely.

So, so they know who that is. They recognize.

Yeah, in a way. So we started to open bags and start to take photos, and every bag, it's a different, um, different— a whole life story. So I think that was one of the, um, one of the hardest moments, things to do, to open the bags.

I can imagine. I can imagine. So So your art is known as a way that you convey messages about the war and about Israel and about what happened there.

My entire career, yeah.

So your entire career is based on the idea creating art so people will feel how it is to be a combat soldier, to be at war. Yeah. What inspired you to use art as a medium so people will get the feel of war?

Look, I've been creating about wars and social challenges my entire career. That's what I'm attracted to. And I guess me being there on October 7th and clearing out dead bodies, I guess it was scripted by the, by, I guess, God that planned the whole thing, right? Look, it's a very tough question because this is what I'm creating about. I don't know where it's come from. This is what I'm attracted to. You know, I believe that things happening for a reason and I was there because I was supposed to be there. I'm not doing Hasbara as I was wishing to do because I don't think I'm that good at it. I'm just creating about that. I'm creating about what I saw, what I'm inspired by, what— it's my language. It's a way for me to to speak and tell my feelings and thoughts about the world. And currently it's about Israel, but 3, 4 years ago it was about America. It was about during the COVID time. And so I had a lot of different projects about different wars and different social challenges in life. And everything comes from a personal experience. So at the moment is about this right now.

I got you. So you, I mean, you're very connected to what's going on in the world, obviously. And if there is something out there that's affecting you emotionally, you want to express it through your art and share it with the world, which makes a lot of sense. But Can you describe a specific piece of art that you've made? And we're going to share your website, your gallery, everything in the bottom of this podcast so people can see and experience your art if they haven't already done so. But is there one specific piece of art that, that it's the most significant to you as far as, you know, really, you know, explaining, you know, why it has the most significance to you, if there is one piece of art?

I don't have most significant because every piece is, there's a different story and it's a different meaning, but There was one that I created in my most— in the most— in the worst mental situation I had ever. I don't think the creation of it is the most significant, but where I was mentally while I created it was very— I think it was the worst I've ever had in my life. And that was When the Music Stopped. It's an art installation that demonstrates 1,000 people laying down in a massacre. And that came from, I remember when I got into Kibbutz Be'eri, I saw so many dead bodies all around. It was like bottles of water after a rave on the floor. And it was so many dead bodies around. And that was a picture that I had in my head. Now, when I got back back from October 7th to Los Angeles, I got into a very, very big depression. So for almost 30 days, I couldn't leave my room. I was in a dark room for almost 30 days, but I created this installation with 10 other producers that helped me out while I was so, so depressed. And I don't think the creation like that, the actual story was the most significant, but Mentally, I was in the worst state ever in my life.

Wow. So how do you balance this emotional weight of your experiences with the creative process of making art? Because you know what they say, you know, if somebody is at a fight and they are angry, they're usually going to lose. Because you have to somehow put your emotion in a certain balance to be, to actually be creative or do something. How is that work for you? Do you have to like let yourself calm down a little bit before you create or you create with the rage or with the emotion?

I don't know. I don't balance. I, uh, I'm not taking medications. I'm not talking to anyone. I'm just creating. Art is the only thing I'm doing as far as healing myself. I don't balance anything. I have very high and very low days. I have some mental hiccups, you know, up and downs. I'm not after, I'm still during, I'm still during the event. I'm not, it's not a pass for me. You know, it, for me, it's still happening.

It's ongoing.

It's ongoing. It's still, I'm still there. And instead of running away from them, you know, from there, I'm trying to hug it and try to fight that and, and do what I'm supposed to do. And, and I know what I'm supposed to do. I'm supposed to speak my language to the world. I'm supposed to tell people what I think, what I saw, what I feel, and that's my only job right now. My job is not to balance anything, you know. I'm not— I'm not there.

I got you. Okay. Wow, listen, this is, this is very serious stuff. So, so what challenges do you Right now, you know, there is a war in Israel. We know the PR is not really working for us. I mean, it's gotten better, but it was a lot worse. Antisemitism and everything that's happened after the war, you would expect the rest of the world to be more compassionate. You know, we didn't start this. They came, attacked us, and now all over the world, Jews are being hated. It's like the opposite. Complete opposite reaction. This world is like upside down in a way. So, so, um, what challenges you personally faced are trying to spread the awareness of this war, to try to tell people that really what's going on, really what we are doing, um, and what happened there as far as the truth. So the world will see what happened. Everything is so twisted.

Tell you what, so I divided, I divide a whole people by 3, right? So there is our echo chamber, all, you know, the Jewish, kind of the Jewish nation that we all know, know what's going on and we support the Israeli side. And there is the others that support the other side. And I call them a lost soul. Like, you cannot convince them. Whatever you're gonna do, you cannot convince them. Even if you're gonna give them the baby dead body, they will tell you it's a stuffed animal. You know, like, whatever you're gonna do, photo, video, whatever you're gonna show them, right? And then there is these people who don't know. I'm trying to speak to the people who don't know. And I'm trying to— my awareness and my projects are to the people who don't have an opinion. They might don't even care, which is okay, by the way. I'm trying to talk to these people, and the challenges are challenges, you know, it's, it's It's like I'm trying to speak Chinese to someone who doesn't understand Chinese. That's a challenge.

So you're saying there is some people, their mind is locked. They will always, no matter what you tell them, they will always be against Jews, against—

No matter what you're going to bring into the table.

Which is very sad. Like they don't even look at the facts. They just, uh—

Facts are meaningless. Facts are meaningless. Facts are meaningless right now in this war. I don't really speak only about the facts, I speak about emotions. Facts are meaningless because we have our own facts, and I guess they created their own facts, and you can change facts, you know, on Everywhere you can create your own facts. So facts are meaningless. It doesn't matter.

Wow. You know, even, even, you know, when you say facts are meaningless, especially at the time where everybody has a smartphone and people are documenting and everybody's a journalist, everybody goes out there and reports stuff. And there is so much evidence and so much. There is, I think, a 40-minute, 45-minute video from all the video that didn't do anything. This is—

doesn't do anything. Facts are meaningless and what convinces people is emotions, not facts. People don't care about facts.

Emotions. And emotions is something that we love to speak about in this podcast. So, okay, so how do you hope your art will influence public perception and understanding of the conflict in Israel? I mean, well, if you know what I'm saying.

Art will change the world. Art already changed the world. And I believe it's one of the best ways to create an emotion for people through art. It's the best way.

I believe—

I think all those videos that explaining what's happening right now, like facts videos, doesn't do anything. Um, uh, news reporters doesn't do anything. The world has been changed. Things are not working as they used to, and I truly believe that art should and will change the world, and it is happening right now, and that's what I'm aiming for.

Okay, that's amazing. It's amazing. You think that pretty much all other media has kind of lost their validity, which means nobody believes the news anymore. It's all like fake news, right?

It's not. I don't call it fake news. I call it their own facts. You know?

Yeah, they report the news according to the opinion of the owner of the station. So if the owner of the station likes Trump or likes, but you know, it's all manipulated. Nothing is really, you know, transparent and authentic and real. It's all telling us a story to create some kind of like, you know, public opinion, so to say. So, so what role do you believe artists and creative play right now? Like, what's your message to other artists? What do we need to do? Because we are at a situation where we cannot any longer stand from the side and look. Every one of us and everyone that's watching, we need to take action. We need to take action. This is part, this is part, you know, some soldiers go out there literally sacrificing their life and everybody needs to do their part. Somebody needs to create art. Somebody needs to record a podcast, but we need to do our part. So, so what role do you believe artists should take in this creative, uh, um, um, to play in this time of conflict, in the time of war, which is still going, which is crazy that this war is still going?

Look, it's a tough question. I don't know if I should say that out loud, but artists who, especially Israelis, are And Israelis who believe in the country and, you know, that inside their stomach they are supporting and they don't create about it, or, you know what, they don't have to create about that, but they don't say anything. It's very upsetting me. I think everyone should do something, if not publicly, so quietly. I don't prejudge, I, because I don't know who does and who doesn't. I'm not checking, but there's different ways. Or you are leading a specific project, or you're gonna volunteer in some project, or you're donating it. So there's many, so many ways to do something about that. I, and whoever doesn't do anything, you know, it's upsetting. It's really upsetting. And I'm not really focused in those kind of thoughts, but I think we all should do something about that.

What would you tell artists right now to do?

It's not only artists, it's just people, you know, it's We all should do something about that, and each person should do something in his era, you know, in his— what he, you know, think he can. Some people can donate $20, some people can donate $20,000, some people can create about that, some people can get— just go help to do some, you know, there's so many ways. It just, it doesn't have to be just creation, you know. Maybe some, you know, some artists are not inspired by that to create, but look, and it's okay to do quietly, you know. I'm not talking only about posts on social media and share some stories, but anything, anything, you know. It's— I wish everybody would do something.

Amen to this one. So yeah, so definitely This podcast is about encouraging people to do whatever they can, each one in their own field, in their own way. So looking ahead, Tomer, what are your future goals as an artist and advocate? Are there any upcoming projects you want to— you're particularly excited about in the future about this that you want to share with us?

So there is one, there is a bunch of different projects, but there is, beside my Project 8, is it's a project that is focused on healing. I realized that the only thing that helps me to get up in the morning is my studio and creation and nothing else beside that. And I realized that so many people like me, survivors, injured soldiers. So, so far I've been working with over 250 survivors and injured soldiers in my studio. My studio became a rehabilitation center for, for people who found art as a healing process. And this is what I'm really focusing on. I do it not from a healer perspective or a therapist perspective. I do it from someone who actually need that, you know.

But it is therapeutic. Therapeutic.

So very therapeutic, very helpful. And when I have soldiers that are coming to create, or some survivors, I, I get filled up with so much, so much energy, you know, and it makes me very happy working with them. So this is my hope. That's what I'm aiming for. And my goal is I have We're working on a whole program to bring survivors from Israel, survivors that are living here in the state, and different people who got into a trauma even by just watching a video, even if they were not there. So we're working on a whole program of Project 8 under the Peretz Foundation, which is my nonprofit organization. And for the reveal of the foundation. It's not really out yet. There is no website. There is no way. The only way to communicate is through me, people sending me messages. But the reveal of everything will be through a campaign that we are starting. I don't want to say a lot about this campaign because it's kind of a secret guerrilla campaign that in the end of it, it will be the reveal of the entire program out there to the public. And the goal is to bring as many survivors as we can to Los Angeles in different retreats to help them to heal their trauma. That's, that's my main work right now.

Wow. That's amazing. That's really, really amazing. So you created a space for survivors of the Nova Party, of October 7th, people with different traumas. They can come and create and express themselves and heal. Under your guidance.

I literally left everything I had in my life beside my family for this. I don't stop taking projects. I stopped doing many other things that I did beside that art and stuff like that.

That's amazing.

That's the only thing I'm doing.

And is anybody can come and create or you have to be one of those people that survived?

So, so first of all, anyone can come and create. Not enough room for everyone, but that's why I'm working on creating a bigger pogrom to host as many people as possible. Because I believe that people that even were living in Los Angeles and were not in Israel during that time and just opened a few videos on Telegram and they watched some really hard videos, they are in trauma too. These people who hide their mezuzah or these people that hide their David Star, these people, they probably need some healing process as well. So the idea is to bring these kind of people as well. So it's for everyone. The idea is just to grow it step by step.

So as everyone, but we give priority to the ones that are really, you know, were there and experienced the pain like—

As of like those days, yes. But in the last few weeks, I had people who were not there. And, but I had some time. So it's getting, it's really busy, by the way. It's really busy. It's on daily basis. It's on daily basis. So the idea is to grow it and to be able to host as many people as possible. And it's all free. It's all, it's all, you know, you know, you don't need to pay or something.

Because you have a nonprofit. Okay. That's amazing.

Thank you.

So that's amazing. I'm excited about it. I want to go and actually create because I got depressed also after October 7th. I got out of it.

Oh yeah, no, yeah.

Yeah, it was, ah man, yeah. I don't think there was any Jewish person in the world that didn't feel it like in their heart.

Exactly.

It was very—

You didn't have to be in October 7th down south in order to get into trauma or something. You know, it's happening all around right now. What about those kids out there in the campuses? This is, you know, this is a very traumatic experience. So. Wow. Wow.

Okay. So Tomer, how can our listeners support your work and the broader cause of peace and awareness in Israel? So tell us, what can we do? How can our supporters support what you do? Give us a little bit of directions because we I believe in what you're doing. I think it should be, you know, in every city should have a center like this for people to come and to heal and to be a part of something like that. It's a beautiful thing. So, so tell us, how can we support you?

It's very simple. I created a different artwork with different survivors. And every, I would say, a month or so, I release a new limited edition print. We are selling those prints and the money goes to the nonprofit. So it's not just a donation. People are buying artwork and the money goes to the nonprofit and that healing program. It's on my website and the, you know, on the menu there is a section that says prints and it's super easy. You just click, you purchase it. It's not that expensive, and if people would like to support more than that, there is a section that says you want to support for more than that, just email that email. That's it. It's very, very simple. Um, I decided to, um, to create a tangible, a tangible, uh, gift for someone who supports. So the whole idea is just to sell the artwork we create together that I create with those guys. And to use that money for the healing program of the aid project.

Amazing. This is unbelievable. So yeah, so we're gonna wrap up this podcast right now and we're gonna have Tomer's links at the bottom of the video for his social media profiles and website and the nonprofit. Please support, become a part of this. He's doing an unbelievably amazing work, and I think that everybody that's watching this as part of the Jewish community should be a part of this, take a part in this, because they said in Hebrew, omanut onamut, which means without art, there is no life. We need art. Anything else you want to add, Tomer?

Thank you so much for inviting me and give me this platform to speak about what I do, about the situation. Thank you for what you do, you know, for doing this. You know, it means a lot. You know, this is, this is, this is the thing that I wish a lot of people that don't do enough will do more, you know. So I want to say thank you.

It's my pleasure. It's my pleasure. Really, really is. And thank you for agreeing to come. I know it wasn't so easy. We had to postpone a few times because of the art galleries and because of artists came from Israel. But, but guys, really everything that Tomer is doing is fascinating. So check out the links below and we'll see you at the next episode. Thank you for listening.

Thank you.