Human Shield
Project Type: Mixed Media \ Photography
Time: 2023-24
The events of 7 October led the artist Adi van Velsen to question issues related to existence in space. As the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, Adi found herself questioning the state in which civilian populations search for a place to call home while serving as human shields for abstract ideas. The regional chaos undermined her and her family’s sense of security, leading her to an inquiry that began with personal and national crisis.
The body of works presented in the apartment rooms is van Velsen’s attempt to locate the ability of the home (concrete and conceptual) to exist in a state of ruin while standing as a human shield and marker of territory and border. Press photos of the damage wrought by war and processes of deconstruction and reconstruction serve van Velsen to undo the constraints and context of the form, and to map areas and formal anchors that she could later use as foundations for construction. Through a repetitive act, she reveals outlines, creates topographic charts, and forms house-shaped porcelain objects that she hangs on the wall, precariously suspended between heaven and earth, waiting to crash.
Topographic Maps, 2023
Mixed technique, digital print on cotton paper
Van Velsen employed a digital technique to randomly erase areas from photographs depicting the damage in the western Negev communities. This process resulted in the near-complete removal of the original images, creating a mapped territory. The abstracted images provide potential continuity and retain some indications from the source. The decision to print the collage on thin cotton paper, originally used to separate photographs in the artist’s old family albums, reflects the effects of time and alludes to memories entrenched in the album, contrasting with the longing for a new future depicted in the printed image.
Territorial Continuity, 2024
Plaster wall, burned porcelain objects, sewing pins
Forty hand-cut porcelain objects seek to emphasize and reiterate the fragility of the conceptual and physical notion of “home.” From her self-searching journey, the artist attempts to use these porcelain objects, which contain a sense of chaos and loss of security, to form territorial continuity. The artwork was created within the confines of an apartment space. Despite its display on the wall, it is not a finished work but one that hints at alternative connections and could potentially be the starting point for a new work. The intention was to emphasize vulnerability while also highlighting the necessary resilience, creating tension that wavers between destruction and construction.
Area Cells, 2024
Installation of porcelain and sandstones*
This sculptural installation comprises naturally fallen sandstone clumps collected from the beach near the artist's home and porcelain objects from the installation Territorial Continuity in the adjacent room. Together, these elements form layers, symbolizing the artist's exploration of the concept of a “human shield” and the idea that both physical and conceptual destruction can be the starting point for continuity and renewal.
*The sandstone clumps will be returned to the beach at the end of the exhibition.
