The Dawn of Darkness
Profound, poetic reflections of elegy are found in the work of many contemporary artists – expressions of loss and grief; poignant memories of family, friends, home, and landscape; and the absence of what was and is no longer.
Each of the displayed works from the Museum’s collections was created out of the artist’s specific personal context yet also carries a universal and symbolic meaning. Presented together, they offer viewers a contemplative space to experience their own private sorrow in these dark times.
Exhibition text by Suzanne Landau.
In a darkened space, six projections offer glimpses of forests and marshlands in northern Germany, depicted in photographs, drawings, and animation. Very slowly, branches sway and fall. A white spot of light moves over the projected images, seeming to search for something or someone in the shadowy scenery.
In GHARDY, Local Voices, Yehudit Sasportas’s aesthetic approach to form and line intersects with her own life story. GHARDY is an acronym for the names of the six Sasportas siblings, and thus each projection may be said to sketch the individual “landscape” - a sort of mental map - of a brother or sister, creating a family landscape. The hidden recesses of forests and swamps, traditional metaphors for the unconscious mind, may harbor personal and family memories that bubble up to the surface. Together with the music, composed by her brother Gamiel, the mysterious images draw viewers into an all-encompassing experience.