ORI GERSHT

ORI GERSHT: 
THIS STORM IS WHAT WE CALL PROGRESS

25 January 2012 to 29 April 2012

Visit the Imperial War Museum for more information.

Here is another exhibition piece which I thoroughly enjoyed once again, Ori Gersht is a great artist and hugely inspirational!
This exhibition was quite surreal on first impressions, the work is very abstract and conceptual which makes it very interesting aesthetically. Many of the events featured in Gersht's work centre around World War 2 and the title was derived from an essay by German Jewish philosopher Walter Benjamin.

Gersht re-examines our relationship with this debris through film and photography. (debris of past events.) He uses photography as a metaphor for history and explores the representation of past and present and the links and ruptures between physical traces, cultural symbols and memories.

Gersht is concerned with the relationship between history, memory and landscape. He adopts a poetic and metaphorical approach to explore the difficulties of visually representing conflict and violent events or histories. 

He also pushes the technical limitations of photography, questioning its claim to truth. 

Ori Gersht, 2011

CHASING GOOD FORTUNE: HIROSHIMA SLEEPLESS NIGHTS, NEVER AGAIN 01

Ori Gersht, 2011

CHASING GOOD FORTUNE: TOKYO IMPERIAL MEMORIES: FLOATING PETALS-BLACK WATER 

Ori Gersht used a digital camera at night to create his "petal" work, however the camera sensor struggled to record the correct light and colour information, resulting in stippled images, referencing early colour prints.

Gersht uses this visual "failure" as a device to explore the idea that photography does not present an absolute truth or narrative.

In his images of the "Cherry Blossom", taken in a memorial garden, was photographed at a shrine to Kamikaze pilots, the flowers became loaded with a dark, recent history. Simultaneously the images are beautiful, more positive connotations of the flower in the Buddhist tradition. It reveals complexities of trying to impose a single reading on an image.

WILL YOU DANCE FOR ME

HD FILM

"YEHUDIT ARNON"

The film is about a women who suffered a traumatic childhood and is imagining it all over in a dream like situation. The (old) women is sitting in a chair, now unable to dance like in her younger years, rocks back and forth in an uncomfortable manner with a separate screen featuring a field of thick, deep snow,  the setting she may have experienced many years ago. 

While she was a prisoner in Auschwitz, aged 19 she was ordered to dance at an SS Officer's party. She refused and was punished by making her stand barefoot in the snow. At that point she made a pledge that if she survived she would devote her life to dance. Later she fulfilled her dream with a successful dance company.

If you like the minimalist or abstract style of Art work please check out this website for some more images:

http://crggallery.com/artists/ori-gersht/ 

WAR STORY

War Story: 
Serving in Afghanistan
Imperial War Museum

Walking into the exhibition space you immediately get taken back by the array of photographs lined up along the outside of the walls. The powerful and striking portraits of the men and women serving in Afghanistan hit you in the face like you've just witnessed what they experience day to day. The project features interactive displays and photographs which demonstrate the soldiers first hand experiences of the conflict for present and future generations. (Information taken and available from The Imperial War Museum Website)

The idea is for people to get a chance to discover the compelling stories of the individuals and witness the collected material for the first time being put on public display. Most of the artefacts, videos and photographs are described and explained in the words and voices of those that that wore, used or created them.

Over 40 life size portraits feature in this exhibition which were taken and produced by Richard Ash and Damon Clearly. (Visit Richard Ash's website) Over 500 individuals were photographed for this project and it tells a compelling story through the eyes of many.

The process appears quite systematic visually but also technically due to the clean white backgrounds, (usually) no berets or insignia identifying their units, composed and processed in the exact same way and the consistency and conformity has instead highlighted the variety and individuality.

The direct gaze into the lens towards the viewer is unsettling yet intriguing which makes you wonder about the nature of their experiences. You get a glimpse of the person behind the uniform.

I enjoyed getting up-close and personal with these portraits, as if you were stood face to face in person with them, you can see every inch of detail in their faces, the lines, the worries and stress and emotions written all over. You feel a whole lot of sympathy with the brave and 

honorable soldiers.

"They are just like you or me. They are your brother, 

your dad, your sister, your best friend, your husband, 

your wife"- Richard Ash IWMP