Luni / Ilana Portnoy is a visual artist whose work explores humanity as it exists before cultural definition. Born in Israel in 1995 to a family of immigrants from Belarus who fled following the Chernobyl disaster, she grew up between cultures - an experience that shaped her sensitivity to belonging and individuality. She earned a B.Des in Visual Communication from Shenkar College in 2020. In Ilana Portnoy’s art, everything revolves around a character named Luni. Luni is playful, wild, and deeply curious a figure who wanders through enchanted forests, open fields, and even into the far reaches of space without any fear. Luni lives in a world of vibrant colors, moving through a space that feels like an ancient memory, a myth, or a beautiful daydream.
Through Luni, Ilana invites us to experience what it’s like to just be. In these paintings, the body and the soul exist together, free from the labels, roles, and identities that usually define us in the real world.
Ilana’s work is deeply influenced by the ideas of Carl Jung and the concept of "archetypes" those universal symbols and images that everyone can recognize, no matter where they are from. This fascinates her, and over the years, she has built a rich visual world where magical creatures and figures act as symbols for our deepest feelings.
But it isn’t all light and magic; there are "shadow" areas too. Ilana explores intense emotions like desire, fear, power, and vulnerability. Loni meets these feelings head-on, sometimes breaking apart into different versions of herself to deal with her inner anxieties.
When we look at these paintings, we are invited to dive into that same world. The landscapes Ilana creates feel timeless, asking us to slow down, look closely, and really listen to ourselves. By exploring her own journey and her own sense of belonging, Ilana uses Loni as a symbol for the "self." Ultimately, her art is a call to see the human being behind the labels - to look inward and accept our own different sides so that we can look at others with more kindness and care.
