Chaim Peri

Chaim Peri was born in 1944. After serving in the Nahal Brigade, he moved to southern Israel to help found Nir Oz. He met his first wife, Batya, at the kibbutz. Their daughter, Inbal, was born in 1968, and their son, Lior, in 1973. After their divorce, Peri remarried and had two more daughters. At the time of Peri's death, he was the grandfather of thirteen children.^[1]

Peri was a sculptor, filmmaker, and children's book author.^[2]

Peri founded an alternative exhibition space, The White House, in an abandoned building that he renovated in Nir Oz in 1999. Peri is widely credited with exhibiting lesser-known artists who had not been shown elsewhere at The White House, including Pavel Wolberg and David Gerstein. He also installed sculptures, his own and those of Menashe Kadishman and others, on the exhibition space's outdoor grounds. Curator Avi Lubin, speaking to The Art Newspaper about The White House in 2025, said, "On the one hand, [Peri] hosted tons of active artists. And on the other hand, in terms of location, it’s in the middle of nowhere—it’s not in a town, it’s not easy to get to, especially without a car—but his hospitality was very enabling and free."^[3][4]

Peri was a volunteer for Road to Recovery, an Israeli charity that transports Palestinians in need of medical care within Israel.^[2] A veteran of four major wars, Peri had later became a peace activist and participated in an anti-war protest during the Second Intifada.^[5][2][6]