The Sweet Water Canal 2017
The exhibition centers around several paintings and objects that were taken by an Israeli soldier from an Egyptian home in the Yom Kippur War. Decades later, the soldier – who became a painter and was my professor – was surprised by the resemblance of my works to the paintings he took from the Egyptian painter. He shared the objects he had taken with me, which led me to search for cultural and artistic associations between Israel and Egypt’s.
I created a tribute to the anonymous Egyptian painter, displaying the original objects looted from him alongside his recreated desk and Coveted Objects for Plunder; These are hybrid reconstructions based on the loot taken by the soldier, and “Egyptian” commodities brought from the British Museum’s gift shop.
The exhibition setting refers both to the views of the Sweet Water Canal depicted in the drawings, and to the artifacts looted from Egypt which are still displayed in Europe.
*The Sweet Water Canal, also known as Ismaïlia Canal, carries fresh water to the settlements near the Suez Canal.
*The exhibition was made possible thanks to the generous support of Asylum Arts, Via Sabra, and Yehoshua Rabinovich Foundation for the Arts, Tel Aviv