Featuring two exhibits from Contemporary Art Center Ramle (CACR), curated by Dr. Smadar Sheffi.
Opening Sep 7.
The exhibit runs through December.
Most works are printed on fabric, hand-sewn, and embroidered. This is the first time that the duo is exhibiting sewn images that simultaneously join and break apart. They have an almost corporeal quality, the stitches seeming to throb with pain like a wounded body.
Time itself becomes matter, an additional element in the photographs which comprise past and present, its density evident in the works with flowers. Hayat and Pirsky distill clichéd images and objects, then reilluminate them in a continuous dialogue between photography and painting.
The discourse on time is a central motif of their works. The photographs are shot on a large format view camera using outdated Polaroid film, whose chemicals leave random stains on the image. Solarization creates further uncontrolled reactions; chance becomes part of their aesthetic. Hayat and Pirsky integrate these chance reactions with controlled, precise photography in the tradition of early 20th century American photography, which, when combined with the unexpected, is intriguing.
Sewing the photographs, a new process for Hayat and Pirsky, began after their encounter with kintsugi, the Japanese art of “golden repair” (of broken pottery) without concealing flaws. The works were made while the artists were closely following developments in the war in Ukraine, fearful for the lives of friends and relatives. The many rifts in the works demonstrate a sense of urgency and injury.
Dr. Smadar Sheffi
