Creating Art From Rejected Objects (Photo Essay)

By BJLIfe/Sharon Altshul
Posted on 12/01/21

Jerusalem, Israel - Nov. 28, 2021 -  In the second of a series of closer looks at artists originally mentioned in the original BJL column for the 5th Jerusalem Biennale of Contemporary Jewish Art, presenting: Yehudis Barmatz-Harris.

 
Barmatz-Harris describes herself as a "new media installation artist, using dimensionality to explore the human experience through personal narratives...using materials that hold no unique value but are basic materials in our environments. I study their characteristics, to tweak out their meaning."

Throughout the years, she has loved doing site-specific pieces, especially in old buildings in Jerusalem - a perfect fit for the current Biennale site in the old Shaare Zedek Hospital. A room on the first floor to the left of the synagogue was chosen for her current installation called Hush for the Take Me Home theme of the 2021 Biennale.

Inspired by the bedroom in the storybook Goodnight Moon, the installation includes a rocking chair, an old clock, and a mobile made from dryer lint, with light and shadows to form a reflection of a woman sitting in the rocking chair. From seemingly worthless substances found in the home and her hanging mobile, she constructed the new media installation Hush.

Born in Boston, MA, she married a Breslover Chassid and now lives in the Haredi moshav Yesodot. The artist has built up a community studio where she can work on her projects.

After receiving a BFA in sculpture from Pratt Institute and a MART from Lesley College in Israel, over the past twelve years she has exhibited in Jerusalem, New York, and Europe.

The photo essay includes images from a press tour of the artist with her work in progress and a second visit to the site where the installation was completed as intended.

The Jerusalem Biennale is dedicated to the exploration of the spaces where contemporary art and the Jewish world intersect and to provide active professional artists and curators with a prestigious platform to exhibit artworks and exhibitions that relate, in one way or another, to Jewish thought, spirit, experience, or tradition. The Biennale is to go until the end of December in multiple locations in Jerusalem, Israel