Varda Carmeli - Déjà Vu
Tova Osman Art Gallery
100, Ben Yehuda St. Tel-Aviv
13.5.2015 – 15.4.2015
The series 'Déjà Vu' is an additional layer to the project 'I See Memory', photographed in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic during the years 2004-2014, by the artist Varda Carmeli. This project has yielded several series of photographs documenting personal experiences in which memories and sights of family roots have immersed themselves and become intertwined.
Varda Carmeli's family immigrated to the land of Israel from Berlin in 1933, before the events that led to World War II. Her project is a journey of recollection. The experience of travelling the roads while hearing the click of the train, or walking the streets of the cities, Berlin in particular, tarrying in its gardens and coffee houses, arouses in the artist moments of déjà vu. The sights appear familiar one moment only to become alien in the next.
This current body of works, 'Déjà Vu', focuses on Women and the feminine memory circuit. The photographs – in shades of grey, blurred or pixelated – enfold women in pain, frustration, longing, appearing remote as well as radiating strength and beauty. Time is undefined thus enabling a time journey. This journey, between collective past and personal present, through the images of unknown feminine figures, enlightens their existential and mystical presence and elevates the power of anonymous women.
