Raquel Sanchez (born 1960s) is a multidisciplinary visual artist and poet. [1]
Sanchez was born in Paris, France to Ellen Lapidus Stern, an American artist and Juan Sánchez Peláez, celebrated Venezuelan poet and winner of the National Prize winner for Literature. [2] She grew up travelling between New York, Ibiza, Morocco and Venezuela [3] and meeting famous artists such as Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. [4]
Sanchez's oil paintings were featured in the 2019 Jerusalem Biennale in the Of Wonder exhibit held at the North Africa Jewish Heritage Center. [1] Her work was hand-picked by curator Mindy Weisel whom she met at the Uri Rosenbach Contemporary gallery. The grand opening featured Sanchez painting in front of a live audience accompanied by musicians Daniel Zamir and Kobi Arad. [5] Her art was again featured in the Jerusalem Biennale in 2021
Her work has been used in publications such as Makor Rishon [6] Arc [7] and Can Magazine. [8] She is a featured artist in the Rosenbach Contemporary gallery in Jerusalem. [9]
In 2024 she participated in Helmets for Heroes, with proceeds going to NATAL – the Israel Trauma and Resiliency Center. [10] In 2024 her exhibition Many Waters was featured at The Artist's House in Rishon LeZion curated by Vera Pilpoul. [11] [12] It was described as "figurative and the abstract," with elements "given to seascapes, and seawater as one of the elements in the universe and as a reflection of human feelings and experiences. Another representation is given to the sky, which is sometimes blue, a color that means heavenly and spiritual, and sometimes changes to other shades." [13]
In January 2025, her exhibition Viewing Spirituality was displayed at The Artists’ House in Tel Aviv [14] and reviewed favorably by The Jerusalem Post as "abstract but have clear figurative elements." [4] In April 2025 her art was featured at the Periscope Galley in Tel Aviv as part of the Behind the Reflection exhibition. [15]
Sanchez is a published poet with her work appearing multiple times in Arc: the Journal of the Israel Association of Writers in English, chaired by Karen Alkalay-Gut. [16] She has also been published in the International Library of Poetry and Voices Israel.
In 2022, she was co-translator of a new bilingual edition of poetry by her father Juan Sánchez Peláez entitled El alba es el leopardo. [17]
Sanchez earned a master's degree in social work from Yeshiva University. [3] She worked for Congress of Racial Equality in the late 1980s as a social worker and in the legal department. In the 1990s, she founded and directed the Rose Institute, a center for at-risk youth in Jerusalem. [12] [18] It was called a sanctuary for English-speaking youth. [19] The Rose Institute partnered with Kidum Noar, an at-risk youth program in Jerusalem and the Ministry of Education in 2001 to form Crossroads Jerusalem. [20]
Things are beginning to change however. Jerusalem's Youth Development Department - Kidum Noar began working intensively with Anglo kids two years ago taking Sanchez under its wing.