Defense Wall, Gilo Neighborhood, Jerusalem

This project is a seven year metaphoric portrayal of the military disfiguration of the Israeli landscape. To describe the complexity of this ever-changing and multi-layered terrain, I chose to keep a distance. The aesthetic, orderly and beautiful compositions parallel the defense mechanism that Israelis have developed in order to protect themselves from the painful reality of the current political situation. The wounds in the landscape correspond to the wounds in the Israeli collective consciousness. My goal is to reveal how every piece of land has become infected with loaded sediments of the ongoing conflict.

Instead of confronting the subject of the Israeli occupation in the way the world is absorbing it through the news, I approach it in a more subtle way. The media's aggressive representation of reality changes people's sensibilities and makes them callous to the suffering of others. One does not need to shock the audience in order to make an impact. I would rather challenge the viewer to think, using the landscape as a platform for discussion.

The accumulation of ruins and military remnants are an important part of what defines the Israeli landscape today. Observing this phenomenon makes me question the values of the society that is growing out of it. Four decades ago the historian and philosopher Yeshayahu Leibovich forewarned about the Israeli occupation being a cancerous disease in the heart of the nation, while renowned contemporary writer David Grossman brings it up again today. I believe that as long as this infected landscape is used as foundation stones for the future of Israel, the Zionist dream is sadly turning into a nightmare.