Over the next few days we will be publishing interviews with some of the artist appearing at VOLTA 11 Basel. The VOLTA Video Series of artist interviews have been produced by GalleryLOG
Batia Shani (showing with Tamar Dresdner Art Projects, Tel Aviv)
Batia Shani: Born 1954 in Haifa, Israel
Tissue, Batia Shani’s installation echoes the unstable political situation in the Middle East & deals with issues of anxiety & fears.
The installation consists of envelopes on which Batia Shani embroiders her fears in Hebrew, Arabic & English & of handmade miniature dresses, made out of fabric scraps and pieces of army uniforms. These dresses are a visualization of a perpetual state of simultaneous absence and presence.
The dresses were made during the 2014 war in Gaza. The incorporation of male uniforms associated with war, within the feminine dresses, creates a sense of confusion. It is a mixture of masculinity and femininity, representing a shift of identities and exploitation of authority.
The engagement in anxiety is directly portrayed in the embroidered envelopes, which are an act of disposing of Shani’s fears. Few of the envelopes are hung backwards, a move which transforms the text into an abstract combination of symbols, thus rendering meaningless.
Tamar Dresdner Art Projects 16 Sharabi Street, Tel Aviv 65147, Israel
www.facebook.com/pages/Tamar-Dresdner-Art-Projects/
VOLTA11 Basel JUNE 15–20, 2015 MARKTHALLE // Viaduktstrasse 10 // CH-4051 Basel // Switzerland
voltashow.com/VOLTA11
Thank-you to VOLTA for supporting FAD.
