REINCARNATION
גלגול נשמות
Work in progress |
On Saturday, October 7, like most of the population of Israel, I kept following the news, trying to contact all my relatives and family members who are in the south and in the security forces. The horrific loss, which hit us all as a nation, took a toll from my family and especially my brother, a policeman who lost several friends on that Black Sabbath.
Amidst the chaos, which alternated to rage, and then evolve into a constant fear for my body, I found myself troubled to the depths of my soul with concern for the women: those who lost their freedom, their dignity and their lives during October 7th, and subsequently, all those women who are still in captivity.
With each night that comes I found myself thinking about the women who are currently in the inferno of their lives, without a sense of night and day, without basic respect for their bodies and souls, and I feel privileged and guilty. Why am I entitled to experience my body, to move freely, to be responsible for my movement while someone else is imprisoned?
Yochai Atria (2014) explains in his article about trauma, that beyond the personal coping, there is a collective coping as a society, in which the personal trauma goes beyond the limits of the individual and moves to a group level. Thus the trauma of the women whose voices were taken from them can be heard through the bodies of other women, and in my own body.
The project 'Reincarnation' refers to the collective experience of fear and randomness of the victims of the massacre and kidnapping. It could Just as easily be any of us.
The photos document movements characterized by chaos and disproportion of the female body. A body that is mostly required to be aesthetic, collected, held and cared, and in recent event found disgraced and destroyed.
The photos and video reflect the movement of souls between the one who lost her life, the one who still in Gaza, the one who survived, and the one who felt survivor's guilt for the very ownership of her body.
We hope that this project will unite us all as human beings who evolve and respect each other's bodies, everywhere, and always.
Thanks to kulturamt düsseldorf for allowing us through the chaos the space to create this project.
Concept and creation: Soof Nikritin & Natalie Afriat