Between Tradition and Expression: The Mother–Daughter Relationship in Druze Women’s Artworks

This article examines how young Druze women artists in Israel depict their relationships with their mothers through visual art. Drawing from a broader study of fifteen artists from the Carmel, Galilee, and Golan Heights, it focuses on two whose work most directly engages the mother–daughter bond. Using interviews and visual analysis, the study explores how these artists express cultural values, tensions, and expectations shaping this relationship in contemporary Druze society. The research is a bilingual, bicultural collaboration between a Druze Arabic-speaking sociologist and a Jewish Hebrew-speaking art scholar. Both artists’ work highlights generational and cultural divides, depicting mothers as central but passive figures following domestic roles and wearing traditional dress. Though physically present, these mothers are rarely shown to be emotionally or intellectually involved with their daughters’ lives. The artworks reflect feminist and psychoanalytic themes, portraying a struggle between loyalty and autonomy, and offering a space where Druze women artists negotiate identity, tradition, and transformation.