Can Art Magazine - Publication - Mediterranean / seeds of colors gallery

Mediterranean / seeds of colors gallery

Eivind H. Natvig, Karel Cudlin, Avishag Shaar Yashuv,
Ohad Zwigenberg, Erez Ben Simon, Dror Galili, Yuval Tebol,
Nelli Sheffer, Amit Sha'al, Kobi Kalmanovitz, Gil Eliyahu Biniat, Sagit Zluf Namir, Dubi Roman, Hadas Parush, Yossi Eshbol, Ancho Gosh, Ofer Blanc, Gil Nechushtan, Felix Lupa,
Jan Tichy,

This show, which offers another view of Mediterranean culture, probes layers of longing for the West and modernity but also of the East's deep roots.

Two bodies of work are on display: a group show of professional photographers specializing in various genres--photojournalism, nature, portraiture, documentary, street and studio photography of still lifes--and works by the late amateur photographer Shmilu (Shmuel) Ahishahar.

The participants have chosen their object of observation in the "place" of their artistic activity. The photographs are deeply embedded in the Mediterranean modus vivendi and its various components: climate, nature and landscape, human and urban landscapes, the conflict between religions and ethnic groups in Israeli society and in the Mediterranean basin.

Photography sustains "the place," and "the place" sustains photography. Either way, the photographers and the place whose reality they document exert a mutual influence on each other.

Ever since its establishment the State of Israel has grappled with the question: to be European or Oriental? Is our main dilemma as a people to build here a "Vienna along the Yarkon banks" or, perhaps, to create a new "Levant"? The photographs thus reflect a society swaying between two desires: belonging to the West, with the back turned to Mediterranean culture, and connection to the roots: the warm sun, the bustling caf?s, the tank tops and shorts, the Greek influence on the music and the taverna culture--don't all these confirm us as Mediterraneans?

Ofer Blanc
Read more

סייבורג מחשבים - בניית אתרים