Maya Zack's Memory Trilogy. Her work deals with culture so deeply. She examines what is culture, what is memory, and how they transform us into what we are. I think this trilogy is one of the most fascinating cultural productions created in Israeli art in recent years. When I saw it, it refined something for me, about what I wish art would do. Zack's works hinder our reaction and encourage a deeper
My work deals with the cultural baggage of objects – how objects tell us who we are, and how we wish to present ourselves to others through objects. I also work with textiles, which is a medium that is loaded with cultural baggage; textiles can indicate a person's financial state or the culture they come from. Oftentimes, these objects pass from one generation to the next, so they also contain sentimental value. When we pass on an object, we pass on culture.
My most recent exhibition, "Big Hole in the Middle", [DA1] dealt with photographs and the role they play in the lives of immigrants that carry them to their new place of residence. In the exhibition, I didn't exhibit real photographs of immigrants but reproduced several original photos and work on them, rethinking the relationship between photography and memory, and how photography influences memory and vice versa. I find it important to stay ambivalent – to manifest the beauty of nostalgia while problematizing it. I want to speak of culture, cultural roots, what connects us to a certain place. What makes us "belong", what is memory.
Lee Barbu, [DA1] 32, multidisciplinary [DA2] artist from Haifa, lives in Tel Aviv.
I began practicing art in high school and gained most of my technical photography skills then. After my IDF service, I knew I wanted to study art professionally and enrolled at Shenkar at a very young age, 21. I loved how multidisciplinary the department in Shenkar was. It allowed me to discover that I am interested in many things beyond photography. Having a set of technical skills in hand, I felt I could use those skills, translate my "mother tongue" into other languages. At Shenkar, I began to create installations as a way to incorporate both video and still photography, and today, most of my exhibitions end up as installations. I think about the viewer's physical experience.
Besides artistic work, I am a graduate student at Tel Aviv University's interdisciplinary program in arts, which focuses on theoretical knowledge rather than practice. In addition, I work at Erev Rav magazine and have been teaching in multiple institutions for about 4 years. I am also a member of P8 Gallery. So, I am both an artist and an "art practitioner", working across the field from multiple angles. If I were only an artist, I would have been very bored; the dialog with other people, such as the one I constantly experience as a teacher, is very important for me. I love how it stimulates me intellectually.
