This exhibition cluster is concerned with the local historiography of Haifa, from the perspective of local female artists. Their works offer unique alternatives to the his-story written by men.
The cluster is composed of four exhibitions: Imagined Reality; Efrat Natan: Striding and Reaping; Yael Bartana: Summer Camp and Manar Zuabi.
Imagined Reality-This exhibition depicts the life of residents in Haifa and elsewhere in the country in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, while severing them from their colonial context. The foreign photographers who photographed the country during this period focused primarily on landscapes, holy sites, archeological remains and biblical associations, thereby reflecting the imperialistic ambitions of Western powers. The visual historiography of the country and its inhabitants long remained faithful to this Western, colonial outlook. By the end of the 19th century, growing attention was given to local residents and their lifestyle; nevertheless, the colonial framework remained prominent.
Acknowledgments:
The exhibition features works from the collection of the Haifa City Museum collection, gift of Dan Kyram; the works are from the Dan Kyram Collection and courtesy of Avraham Medisker.
Efrat Nathan: "Striding and Reaping"- This sculpture, which was specially commissioned for display in the main exhibition space of the Templar community center, is composed of 24 scythes whose positioning evokes the harvesting process. The scythe is related to the founding myths of Zionism, and symbolizes for Natan the Jewish pioneers who "conquered the wilderness" and "redeemed the land." These European-Jewish pioneers served as a symbol of the Zionist settlement project. (It is worth noting, however, that these pioneers were preceded by the Templar colonists, who arrived in Palestine in the late 19th century). The sculpture dialogues with chronophotography, a technique used towards the end of the 19th century to record successive stages of movement on a single photographic plate. Chronophotography was most notably practiced by the photographer Edward Muybridge and the scientist Etienne-Jules Marey
Acknowledgments:The exhibition is held courtesy of the Rosenfeld Gallery, Tel Aviv.
Yael Bartana: Summer Camp- The video work Summer Camp captures the reconstruction of a house demolished by the Israel Defense Forces. Dialoguing with the Helmer Larsky's 1934 propaganda film "Avoda" (labor), Bartana reveals how historical and contemporary Zionist propaganda surveys and dominates Israeli collective consciousness. The work was presented at the Documenta art exhibition in Kassel, Germany. It was first exhibited in Israel as part of the exhibition "Crossed Histories."
Acknowledgments:
The exhibition is held courtesy of the Annette Glynk Gallery, Amsterdam Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv.
Manar Zuabi- The installation was specially created for one of exhibition spaces at the Templar community center. Zoabi's work explores the way in which her own body, as a representation of the female body and of gender-related issues, intersects with a national vision. Through the use of "feminine" materials, she proposes alternative solutions to the issues of geographical circumscription, territoriality and occupation at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Her work articulates a critique of the ways in which women in areas of the conflict are expected to repress and sacrifice their personal needs for the sake of a national agenda.
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