As If – Visual Diaries
Over the past three years I have been working on visual diaries, arranged in layers of photographs and texts.
The works comprise visual documentation of details from my own daily life: that of people close to me, and of the changes Tel Aviv is going through. Beneath each image, a short text is written. While the images are of personal experiences, the accompanying texts oscillate between private and political-social events. Thus I attempt to examine the relation between the private domain and the difficult reality that penetrates and inundates it.
The chronological succession of diaries is joined by seven series that reveal other parts of my life: in the series “A Good Family” and “As if” I touch upon childhood memories through images from the family slides archive. Another series addresses various states of listening. The series are intermingled with the diaries through a consciousness-blender of sorts, allowing non-chronological materials entry.
The photographed images are pasted on pages from foreign art magazines. These printed pages remind me of the diary’s format. In choosing to use texts as a backdrop for the photographs a contrast is created between the contents of my works and critical writing about art; an interaction between the works and their background.
Editing is a central component in the diaries, creating rhythm and meaning.
Text by Nurit Yarden
