Seamoods

Seamoods is a project I'm working on since winter 2014. The project examines the Israeli coast lines of the Mediterranean north to south and the Dead Sea. The beach is a place of relaxation, refuge, recreation and purity, and on the other hand there are dangers to be faced. It is a central lifeline to countries bordering the sea, in terms of security, trade and more. The Israel Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea embodies the country borders, and the Mediterranean coast is almost the only place of exit / entry. Also Israel's history is related to these beaches. After a long stay abroad, where I designed my artistic language, I find myself photographically mapping the coast of the state, in one of the first bodies of work that I create in Israel. This is not a documentary series though the mapping operation could be perceived as such. The photos keep their distance, despite the personal and subjective observation. I am looking for differing interpretations of the sea and the shore. Historical significance, religious, social, symbolic. The Participants characters in the scenes, represent these interpretations. The photograph entitled Camping, which depicts a group of stylish cars, as well as the entitled Jeeps image that shows a 4 x 4 wheels convoy as a modern camel caravan. As opposed to Facing east to pray, which women viewed praying facing east to Jerusalem, or Sand Hill in a scene which a group of people holding on Oasis and its opposite - sand surrounded by greenery. I am fascinated by the relationship between the human condition and its involvement in nature. Small figures compared with the landscape but are an integral part of it, even when they are not included in the frame. Both individuality and their characteristics can be seen, and yet both symbolic and almost generic. The works create groups of figures unified in the same frame as in the work Untitled, Mineral Beach and Swimmers. A connection and a personal narrative is formed, through the concept of the isolated moment out of many moments in the cyclic movements of the sea. The Sea and land, and their connection point - the landscape – are supported in human figures, and vice versa. The distance I keep begins in the act of photography itself, as in the image entitled Formation flying where people look up to the sky at an Air Force demonstration on Independence Day. My place as a photographer remains as an observer who is viewing on the viewers, and not as part of the audience. In another series - Tidal, which also examines the sea, I refer to it as a tool to express moods. I create another sea, almost fantastic, almost abstract. Conversely, in the series Seamoods, the sea is apparently concrete and yet has a metaphorical meaning. The wave transience, impermanence of the season and light juxtaposes with the people themselves, their activities and place in the world.