SETTLER

My work deals with the physical traces of human gestures, examining the remains of the interaction between a settler, space and a community. This body of work is a two year ongoing project. It consists of white T-shirts that I have worn and are treated with fabric stiffener to retain the imprint of my body; on each there is a different unclear print of the word “Settler”, on all its different meanings. I leave the T shirts in different locations I go to; New York, settlement in Israel and so on.

I grew up in the Israeli settlement in the West Bank. It was a beautiful, quiet, normal town of a few hundred families and within its limits it seemed possible to escape the violent and controversial reality surrounding it. Even though politics and ideology were everywhere, I wishfully thought of my own existence as un-political. In time, however, I saw that my every gesture and action was affecting reality, leaving its significant marks.