In Jerusalem Syndrome, I explore questions concerning the origins and status of the sacred. I examine the possibility of creating imagined sacred moments, and ask whether holiness is an inherent quality of a place or a person, or rather the product of perception and social practice.
Jerusalem Syndrome is a psychological phenomenon in which visitors to the holy city develop messianic identifications or a sense of divine mission. This unique phenomenon points to the profound power of place to shape human consciousness, and serves as the point of departure for this work.
In developing the project, I documented imagined figures along the routes of my everyday life in Jerusalem. I rendered them in ink, using light, airy lines, and added golden halos to their heads. These transformed fleeting, everyday moments into images charged with ritual and mythological significance. The ethereal space of the drawings suggests another, otherworldly realm, while the gold imbues the figures with a new, elevated and sublime status.
The work was exhibited in Jerusalem and Its Builders, Beit A.G.C., Jerusalem, 2018.
Curated by: Amir Orlesson and Shoshana Birnbaum.
Jerusalem Syndrome
Indian ink and 24-karat gold on watercolor paper
32 × 45 cm
