Open Triangles
Ziva Ben Yair | Sara Noach | Valerie Koen | Rivka Kriklivenko
Curators: Iris Pshedezki and Gili Zaidman – The Refrigerator (HaMecarer)
The #4 Israeli Photography Festival, Jaffa
“There are small things that we breathe in the ultra-Orthodox world, without saying. We did not open. We created from our place, within our confines.”
In Israel there is a large ultra-Orthodox population that observes a conservative religious lifestyle, distinguished in almost every aspect from the secular and religious sectors. Over the past few years, many changes have taken place in the ultra-Orthodox community, including the social options open to women and the attitude towards art.
“Oman” Visual Art Center for the ultra-Orthodox Community in Jerusalem is a unique institution that promotes and encourages the legitimacy to learn art, create, and make a living, particularly for the ultra-Orthodox woman. As teachers at the center, we knew the women who learn and teach there – a less than obvious encounter in the daily life of secular and ultra-Orthodox women. We invited the graduates to create an exhibition that will be presented in the Israeli Photography Festival – a secular event that is not aimed at the ultra-Orthodox community as artists or audience.
The exhibition presents works by four ultra-Orthodox Jerusalemite women photographers. Each photographer touches in her own way on yearning and lack. Natural spaces and urban wanderings were intertwined with one another. Everyday subjects like conversations about home, about deconstruction, rendered the exhibition a presentation of an encounter. An opportunity to present these themes in a universal context, continue a discussion of the dilemmas, and allow expression within a frame, society, and medium.