Join us for a lecture followed by a panel discussion.
About the lecture: Secrets of Heroines
How can one find beauty in the darkness of war? Can it even hold meaning when humanity is surrounded by shadows?
In the lecture Secrets of Heroines, exhibition curator Ya’ara Keydar takes the audience on an intimate journey behind the scenes of creating Heroines: Fashion and Hope in World War II, currently on view at Design Museum Holon.
In this talk, Ya’ara shares both the curatorial process and her personal experience of engaging with such a complex subject in the aftermath of October 7.
Curation is a process that involves collaboration with professionals, moments of success and failure, errors and discoveries, and above all, a touch of magic. Ya’ara will tell the story of how a tiny thimble inspired an entire exhibition. She will reveal hidden stories unearthed in the research, share moving moments from the production process, and speak about sources of inspiration, something we all need now more than ever.
This is a heartfelt lecture about a journey between sorrow and beauty, between loss and hope, and above all, a profound faith in women and in humanity.
About the Speaker
Ya’ara Keydar is a fashion historian, curator, Ph.D. candidate at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and winner of the Fellowship Scholarship from the Lafer Center for Women and Gender Studies. After earning a bachelor’s degree with honors in Fashion Design from Shenkar College, Keydar was awarded an honorary master’s degree in Costume Studies by New York University, where she also interned for two years in the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). Since 2018, Keydar has been lecturing on fashion, culture, and art at leading cultural institutions both in Israel and internationally.
Currently on view at the Design Museum Holon is Keydar’s latest exhibition, Heroines: Fashion and Hope in World War II. This is her fourth exhibition at the Design Museum Holon, following Alber Elbaz: The Dream Factory (2022), The Ball: Fashion and Escapism (2021), and Je t’aime, Ronit Elkabetz (2018). Together, these exhibitions have drawn over 450,000 visitors to the museums to date. In 2020, she curated Rediscovering New York Fashion at the ZAZ10TS Gallery in New York.
Panel Discussion
The lecture will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by IRTG doctoral researcher Liraz Cohen Mordechai, whose PhD focuses on fashion and who has collaborated with various museums in the past.
The panel will feature:
- Ya’ara Keydar, curator and lecturer
- Prof. Tanja Zimmermann, art historian
- Curator from the GRASSI Museum
Together, the panelists will explore themes emerging from the GRASSI Museum exhibition Forms of Adaptation. Arts and Crafts and Design under National Socialism as well as Secrets of Heroines. The discussion will address curatorial practice as part of academic research, the presentation of history through aesthetic choices, and the points of convergence and divergence between the two exhibitions, as well as across other artistic forms.
Date: February 18, 2026
Time: 2-4pm
Location: Grassi Museum, Library
We kindly ask you to register for the event, as seating is limited (80 seats). We will check your registration at the entrance. Please remember not to bring large bags or luggage to the event. After registration you will receive a confirmation by email. Your data will be handled in accordance with the DSGVO.
Event Registration