You're Gorgeous, You're Mad
Video installation. 2019
The presentation of self, usually in an attempt of creating a certain impression, is inevitably hiding essential parts in our traits, thoughts and feelings. This series is an expression of my desire to reveal a complex and whole image of one’s self-perception.
To examine this theme, I invited a group of international artists during an Artist Residency program in Virginia, to participate in a series of self-confronting acts.
The complete installation presents an inner dialogue between two contradicting aspects of each individuals’ personality and brings to the fore the inner tension between the “idealised self” and one’s actual self-perception.
Links: Text | Short Clip | Work Process
Blank Box
Photographs. 2018
Two white cubes were built for this project. They served as a platform for a series
of portraits of local people from Cape Charles, Virginia, who were photographed in and around their town.
The boxes may be a stage, perhaps a symbol; an object encompassing multiple meanings.
The work was created as part of the artist residency “Experimental Film Virginia”.
You Don't Have To Do A Thing
Video installation. 2016-2017
In this video installation, I decided to examine people’s reactions to sounds, associated with three different major cultures and religions in Jerusalem today: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.
Each one of the participants sat in a dark room and listened to the same soundtrack while I was filming his/her physical reactions. From their mimic and gestural reactions of refusal and approval – smile, boredom, rejection, enjoyment, grin –
I created a series of video portraits.
The work involved the participation of individuals from a wide range of cultural backgrounds, which were complex and multi-religious. These remained hidden from the audience, thus allowing a wide range of interpretations to arise.
Links: Text | Short Clip | Installation view | Video stills
A Lasting Faith
Photographs. 2014-2015
This series of nocturnal photographs was created over several years during which I spent time with Orthodox priests and nuns. I accompanied them through ceremonies, rituals and personal moments, across the Israeli and the Palestinian territories.
I focused on night scenes, lit by candlelight or moonlight, while depicting "continuous moments", where the subject is engaged in a long and repetitive act, producing a type of aesthetics and content that are referring to the history of religion as well as to the history of art. The resulting images portray a present-day minority which is an inseparable part of the history of the area and yet largely unknown and inaccessible to most of the local public.
The work was presented in a solo exhibition at The Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg and is now a part of the museum's permanent collection.
Links: Text | Photographs | Exhibition | Interview
The River
Short film. 2016
The film captures a series of poignant moments experienced by Christian
Orthodox pilgrims as they emerge from the Jordan River during the week
of Easter. The pilgrims, coming from five different countries, share their
experiences and speak about their faith and their emotions.
The project was displayed at The Byzantine and Christian Museum,
Athens, Greece in 2016.
People Of The Near East
Photographs. Ongoing
For nearly nine years I have been photographing the residents of the Near
East, Israelis, Lebanese, Palestinians and others in an attempt to record the
faces of the area through various challenging times.