The Museum of Hoaxes
Naomi Jelish
Posted By:
Simon Bird
Feb 26, 2005
 I'm spooked by the story of Naomi Jelish, who apparently was a very young
(13 years old) artistic prodigy, active in the early nineties and not heard
from since. I know this information from a site a friend suggested I look
at.

<a href="http://www.naomivjelish.org.uk" target="_blank">www.naomivjelish.org.uk</a>

Now I was totally taken in by this and the other stories the site features
(her curator John Ivesmail and the Jelish family) and what happened to her
work after she "mysteriously disappeared" in the early nineties.

I had never heard anything about this girl before so googled her and one of
the most prominent results was the Museum of Hoaxes -
http://hoaxes.org/weblog/permalink/naomi_jelish/

So it seems this is a hoax which I'm finding hard to believe given the
detail of the site above. It has all the stuff you'd expect - links to
newspapers and the police. And it all seems to check out but, as mentioned
in the link, it seems its a hoax!

Does anyone have any more info on Naomi or the other people involved? I've
emailed he webmasters at her site with similar questions but have yet to
receive a reply.
Category: Art; Replies: 1

Comments
Deadpony Spencer
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 | 07:36 AM
This is an old thread but someone might be still reading.

The story of the girl artist is NOT a hoax, it is a piece of fairly elaborate and creative fiction.

The artist is Jamie Shovlin (an anagram of Naomi Jelish). I think Saatchi let the story of the 'hoax' run because it made people take interest. He knew exactly what he had bought. The people that think he was duped in some way are just the people that don't like art and wanted to bring him down again.

I think the work has exactly the effect it intended. To leave people spooked. To leave them wondering whether it is real. And to leave them wondering whether it matters.

Interesting, actually.

:ahhh:

Note: This thread is located in the Old Forum of the Museum of Hoaxes.