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Longing, Be-Longing | Ras Al Khaimah Art Festival, RAKFAF22, UAE
Participation artists: Raida Adon, R'm Aharoni, Gil Desiano Bitton, Joseph Yossef Dadoune, Mati Elmaliach, Eyal Segal, Dafna Shalom, Tal Shochat, Ariel Van Straten, Ameera Zeyan CURATOR: Sharon Toval
HOPE | Ras Al Khaimah Art Festival, UAE
RAKFAF21, UAE
A collection of Israeli video artworks, for the first time in the UAE
Participating artists: Dana Levy, Shachar Marcus, Eyal Segal, and Tamir Tzadok.
CURATOR: Sharon Toval
SAND STORM & LAWRENCE TREE, 2013
HD-Video, 2’28”
Original Score: Isaac Shushan
(Filmed in, Wadi Rum, Jordan, 2012)
Wadi Ram is a transit area and nomadic as the Bedouin tribes living there. Known as The valley of the moon by its local inhabitants for the resemblance to the lunar surface. The desert as a space; physical, symbolic and mental of exile and wandering of characters lost in time. A single acacia tree appears in the red and sandy desert landscape with a sandstorm shaking its branches. In the distant background, the mountainous landscape of the Seven Pillars of Wisdom, known mainly from the books of Thomas Edward Lawrence, better known as the mythical ”Lawrence of Arabia” operated in the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. The combination of the moving image and the oriental soundtrack makes the work, Segal says,
“a sculpture of time and place”.
'INDIAN GYOTAKU' - Eyal Segal
Part from the article: Ela Das / The memory of relationships / Published by Sunday Mid-day News / Published by THE PLANNER 25/07 Edition 93, Mumbai, India
While Indo-German artist Eyal Segal feels a strong connection with his Indian roots, especially in his work, he laments the fact that he hasn’t had the opportunity to visit the country yet. “Most of my work has always explored the roots and origins of a memory. When you remember something, in that moment, you jump back to another time while physically being present somewhere else. Often, you’ve never lived through a memory, but you feel like it’s a part of your DNA. I was intensely drawn to create a series with the traditional Japanese Gyotaku method of printing fish. The practice, which dates back to the mid-1800s, was used by fishermen to record their catches. Over time, I discovered that my grandfather, who died when I was very young, was a fisherman in Cochin! This pieced together a puzzle I didn’t know I was trying to solve.”
'INDIAN GYOTAKU' - Eyal Segal
A part from the Exhibition catalog:
Quiberon Gyotaku week 2019, Hotel De Ville de Quiberon, Masion du phare de Port Haliguen, France
Curiosity
My curiosity often leads me to create new works and explore the mediums. Somewhere along the way and in the process of work and research I could reveal and find many threads of memory, feelings, and history - individual and collective. These are key elements in my works.
Meeting Mineo Yamamoto - Japanese Gyotaku Master
During my last video installation in Tokyo, I met a Master of Gyotaku - Mr. Mineo Yamamoto. Having started first with experiments of Gyotaku in my studio by myself, with different materials and colors - it was a reverse action of learning. A one-on-one workshop of traditional Gyotaku with Yamamoto. Probably my next Gyotaku artworks will combine and remix this knowledge.
Indian roots
I was born in Israel, as a Jewish from all sides. Half with origins rooted in Germany, East Europe, and old Palestine, and the other half from Cochin, India. This is what made me drawn to the Indian color powder. I found it interesting to clash these two different mentalities - Indian and Japanese. Only later came to my mind and memory that my grandfather who passed away when I was a child - was a fisherman in Cochin, this led me to more experimental materials and to this ‘Indian Gyotaku’ series of works.
My Gyotaku
It is a mixture of materials; Indian ink, Indian pigment colors, canvas, and different types of paper. I tried to take this old and precise technique and find my new approach, more contemporary and conceptual and to check the medium boundaries. The fish in Jewish culture and tradition is also considered important and symbolizes; fertility, luck, and guarding from the evil eye.
SAND STORM & LAWRENCE TREE, 2013 (video excerpt)
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