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Eclipse

Eclipse

photo credit : Shlomi Yosef

photos credit : Matan Divald

'Eclipse' was created as a part of a group exhibition called Creation in Space, in Hamifal - an art project that turned an abandoned 19th-century building in the heart of Jerusalem into an art and cultural center.

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'Eclipse' is focused on the history of the building and literally is made of its historic files. Historic research revealed that It was the house of the Lorencho-Seraphim family. It was built by the Seraphim brothers, Seraphim and Anthon - at the time well-known architects in Jerusalem - for the marriage of their sister Fredrica with Simon Lorencho, both from privileged Arab-Christian families. The family had lived there until 1948, then they left for Lebanon. Their daughter Clair moved later to the east of Jerusalem, and through her grandson - which surprisingly is an acquaintance of one of the Hamifal members - the family's history was revealed.

After that, the building was in different uses, and wasn't well preserved; the original wall-paintings were covered by new ones, a linoleum floor covered the original stone floor and etc. Recently it became abandoned until the Hamifal group renovated it and made it what it is today, a lively place.

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I started working on this project after I finished working on 'Sigillum', and I thought of maybe making a sort of Sigillum for this building that contains its history. There seemed to be a contrast between Hamifal and Lorencho-Seraphim's house, contrast that seemed to me like an eclipse; because something different was created in the meeting the two, in the meeting between past and present - something that wasn't in each of them separately.

Furthermore, it's a meeting between life and knowledge, between the lively place it is now, and its history with all the details.

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The dark part of the work consists of Israel's historic files of the building, the picture of the Lorencho-Seraphim marriage, and other references that lead me finally to the concept of an eclipse. Also, the round piece in the center is a linoleum part of the linoleum that covered the original stone floor. 

The dark part symbolizes knowledge, that sometimes people prefer to ignore for their own interest, and sometimes its congestion can paralyze you so no creation and renovation are possible. 

The light, like the sun, symbolizes what gives life and change, but also what can destroy life if it's not balanced, in this case not balanced by the past, the history, tradition - knowledge.

The Integration of the two, life and knowledge, creates something that is different from what each of them is when they stand by themselves.

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Materials: glass sheets, printed papers, cello-tape, linoleum, light

Technique: collage

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