On the borders of art in Israel
An exhibition on walls and frontiers has reached a fitting audience
IN THE BEGINNING it seems to be an ordinary nature documentary. Two gazelles, a male and a female, seek each other out in the mating season. But as the background comes into focus, it becomes clear that this a political scene, too. The viewer sees the shiny white apartment blocks of a Jewish suburb of Jerusalem, built across the “green line” in the occupied West Bank. The two gazelles are close, yet they are kept apart by the security barrier, which on one side Israelis refer to as “the separation fence”, and the Palestinians on the other call “the wall”.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Fault lines”
From the June 29th 2019 edition
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