A Declaration
2006 - Film & Video (Film & Video)
7 min 40
Yael Bartana
Yael Bartana’s video work A Declaration was shot in southern Tel Aviv, on the visible border between that city and Jaffa. It begins with the sound of waves and the image of the Israeli flag that fills the entire screen. This is followed by the whirring sounds of a helicopter. A young man in a white undershirt rows a boat carrying an olive tree in its place. With her camera work Bartana seems to flirt with 1930s Jewish National Fund (JNF) propaganda photography on the one hand, and with Leni Riefenstahl’s photographic technique, like the use of soft focus that distorts the perspective and vanishing point, on the other, A Declaration already attests to the action itself: on Andromeda’s Rock, Bartana replaces the Israeli flag with an olive tree. While this is indeed an act performed in a media context, it nevertheless takes place in the sphere of Israeli reality. (exh.cat. Kunstverein in Hamburg, Hatje Cantz, 2007, p. 93)
The work of Yael Bartana investigates the imagination and imagery of identity and the politics of national memory and identity. Her interest in understanding and examining national statehood stems from being born in Israel, and being surrounded by the perpetual production of collective national identity. After completing her studies, Bartana undertook what she called ‘amateur anthropological’ research into ritual and myth making to take a critical perspective towards her own history and nationality. As a result of her politically charged practice that often deals with Jewish identity in Israel and abroad, she has garnered significant criticism, notably being labeled as anti-Zionist and a self-hating Jew. Despite this criticism, Bartana believes that, through her work as an artist, exploring both political statehood and religious and political diaspora, she is responsible for addressing these issues. Bartana believes that growing up in such a politically charged state requires artists to become either political artists, or escapists.
Colors:
Related works of genres: » israeli women artists, » israeli photographers, » israeli contemporary artists, » metamodernism
» see more
© » KADIST
Keren Cytter
“Untitled” is inspired by the movie “Opening Night” by John Cassavetes with Gena Rowlands playing the role of a fallen woman, anguished by her distressed life...
© » KADIST
Elad Lassry
2013In his composition, Chocolate Bars, Eggs, Milk, Lassry’s subjects are mirrored in their surroundings (both figuratively, through the chocolate colored backdrop and the brown frame; and literally, in the milky white, polished surface of the table), as the artist plays with color, shape, and the conventions of representational art both within and outside of the photographic tradition...
© » KADIST
Pavel Wolberg
2004A young settler girl, dressed in a bridal outfit for Purim, stands in a street in Hebron waiting, perhaps for her parents or other children to join her...
Related works featuring themes of: » Israeli
» see more
© » KADIST
Oded Hirsch
2012Oded Hirsch’s video work Nothing New (2012) utilizes seemingly absurdist tropes to raise more trenchant questions about communal action and collective identity in modern day Israel...
© » KADIST
Elad Lassry
2012The black-and-white photograph Men (055, 065) (2012) depicts two similarly built young men – young and slim, with dark tousled hair and a square jaw line – seated aside one another in identical outfits...
Other related works, blended automatically
» see more
© » KADIST
Yael Bartana
2007Yael Bartana received great international attention for the trilogy series And Europe Will be Stunned (2007 – 2011)...
Related works sharing similar palette
» see more
:quality(70):focal(2825x2140:2835x2150)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/thenational/HBA67YPGBAMGXUNYTDFWK22NOE.jpg)
© » SLASH PARIS
Paul Lepetit — Not so Blue — Les Bains-Douches d'Alençon — Exhibition — Slash Paris Login Newsletter Twitter Facebook Paul Lepetit — Not so Blue — Les Bains-Douches d'Alençon — Exhibition — Slash Paris English Français Home Events Artists Venues Magazine Videos Back Paul Lepetit — Not so Blue Exhibition Mixed media Paul Lepetit Courtesy de l’artiste Paul Lepetit Not so Blue Ends in 12 days: November 24 → December 23, 2023 The Skogyrkogarden Cruise: Rambling in the Lands of Sexual Dissidence “Be proud and happy of what your body exults...
Other works by: » Yael Bartana
» see more
© » KADIST
Yael Bartana
2007Yael Bartana received great international attention for the trilogy series And Europe Will be Stunned (2007 – 2011)...
Related works found in the same semantic group
» see more
© » HYPERALLERGIC
Video of Israeli Soldiers Handling Gaza Antiquities Raises Outrage Skip to content A photo of the École Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jerusalem's excavations warehouse in Gaza (image courtesy Jean-Baptiste Humbert) The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) drew criticism online on Sunday, January 21, after its Director-General Eli Eskozido posted an Instagram story depicting Israeli soldiers onsite at a storeroom in Gaza filled with apparent antiquities, as well as a photo of a small display of cultural objects in the Knesset (Israeli parliament)...
