Jewish Museum - London

The Jewish Museum is delighted to present the first ever UK show of the internationally renowned Israeli photographer Adi Nes.

Born in Kiryat Gat, and currently living and working in Tel Aviv, Adi Nes is one of Israel’s leading photographers. His work has been exhibited widely across Europe and North America and can be found in collections throughout the world.

In this series of photographs Nes has created a fictional village, where meticulously staged pastoral images are imbued with an underlying subtext of anxiety. In the artist’s words, “like the State of Israel, this village appears as a small place created in the wake of tragedy. It’s an idyllic valley with wide vistas, green fields and trees full of fruit yet with a charged atmosphere.”

The photographs seem to hover either before or after an action, leaving the action itself open to the viewer’s personal associations. Using archetypal references to Greek tragedy and myth, Nes situates the villagers as protagonists in an epic tale of isolation and utopianism.

The exhibition offers visitors a window through which to examine contemporary Israeli identity as well as issues of gender, militancy, statehood, intergenerational relationships, and the function of art. These themes ultimately coalesce to a layered exploration of human relationships and the function of myth.

This exhibition is produced in association with Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv and with support from Outset Contemporary Art Fund, Leviev and Embassy of Israel, London.
 

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