BODIES OF WORK: Re Imagining Relations [2008 -11 ]

“Re Imagining Relations” is inspired by the actions of a group of Muslims who risked their lives in Paris during the German occupation of France and rescued many Jews. Focusing on current Jewish-Muslim relations, I explore the potential of montage to highlight similarities, explore differences and visualize a conversion of dichotomies into coexistences.

Utilizing photographs taken in Paris, Istanbul, Jerusalem and the occupied Palestinian territories, I begin by combining images of synagogues and mosques, seamlessly creating new images and spaces in which other realities can occur, realities of coexistence, respect, mutuality and exchange. I am interested in the symbolic, poetic and narrative possibilities of imagery and seek to create a body of work that actively engages in a dialogue centered on the elimination of borders, the preservation of humanity and the encouragement of empathy.

In his book “Writing in the Dark”, David Grossman eloquently speaks of the potential of “ a literary approach ” to this urgent time. It is my desire to explore the potential of a visual approach as “…. an act of redefining ourselves as human beings in a situation whose essence and methodology consist entirely of dehumanization.”