Ori Gersht (Israeli, b. 1967)
Black Soil: White Light Red City, White Light Red City 01, 2002.
Edition 2/5.
Chromogenic print in two parts.
47 1/4″ x 59 1/16″ (each).
Courtesy of the artist and CRG Gallery, NY.
From above, the Arab community of Iksal flares an ominous crimson. The night is calm, but Gersht’s long exposure captures the explosive potential of Israeli conflict, where fire threatens to ignite at any moment. Overlooking Iksal from a rocky cliff in Nazareth’s Jewish quarter, we see the landscape as if through an infrared lens. The alluring, saturated scene places us in one of Gerhst’s many borderlands between beauty and violence.
–Virginia McBride ’15
Gund Associate