RESONANCE
Contextile Biennial for Contemporary Textile Art
2020 Guimaraes, Portugal
5/9/2020- 25/10/2020
Palácio do Centro Cultural Vila Flor
With the support of the Israeli Embassy
Lisbon, Portugal
The work focuses on the theme of cultural preservation and realms of memory which play a major role in my artistic work. This wall installation is the fruit of a research I conducted at the archive of the historic museum of Bialik, a central and influential cultural figure and poet in Israel (b.1873- d. 1934). The work is comprised of archival materials: selected letters and photographs of two intellectuals (Bialik and his close friend and editor) which became my raw material for the installation. By weaving the shredded texts and photographs a new ‘material of memory’ is created, a new kind of textile. The word 'Textile' is derived from the Latin word 'Texere' meaning to weave.
The work makes present what is elusive and temporary. I preserved the image and the handwriting while changing the context and unraveling meanings, which takes on a material representation. The fragmentation of the image and text symbolizes the collapse of memory, of information, and an attempt to reconstruct it anew.
The work focuses on absence and the way it lives on in memory. It is a voyage into the intricacies of the archive and its disastrous loss.
