Yael Bartana

Yael Bartana's video works about Israeli contemporary society have been exhibited nationally and internationally. Beginning with an interest in the documentary, films such as Ad de'lo Yoda (2003) capture a traditional Jewish parade through a crack in a door. Positioning the viewer as an outsider to the celebrations, dancing and colorful costumes are glimpsed momentarily as participants move past the camera. Rather than attempting to explain the ritual’s significance, Bartana’s footage works with the unknowability of identity and heritage that is not our own. Her later work has shifted to incorporate informational films that subvert the conventions of propaganda to address the emotionally heightened context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.