Rona Yefman
Marath a Bouke, project #4
November 18, 2011 - January 7, 2012
Opening
Reception: Friday, November 18, 6-8 pm
For her first exhibition at
Derek Eller Gallery, Rona Yefman will present an
installation about Martha Bouke, an 80-year-old
grandfather and Holocaust survivor living in Tel
Aviv who assumes a feminine persona in both body
and mind. This work is the culmination of nine
years of collaboration.
Entitled Marath a Bouke,
project #4 (meaning
"your father's wife" in Arabic), this exhibition
features a 21-image modeling portfolio, a
two-channel video installation, and a new photo
and video of Martha at the Tel Aviv Museum of
Art. The images range from poignant to humorous
to joyful to disconcerting as they traverse
norms of gender, family roles, and eroticism.
With her blonde wig and expressionless, mask
Martha's character challenges the conventional
perception of an elderly man and tries to defy
the Jewish trauma myth. As Yefman explains, the
portraits reveal Martha as "a diva, a
provocation, a fiction, an art piece, and a
poetic soul."
Rona Yefman works
with individuals who "embody possibilities of
freedom," and describes photography as "a way to
find freedom and passion. The camera allows
things to happen, gives permission to explore a
different kind of life or existence." Her work
blurs the boundaries between the documenter and
the documented, artist and muse, and uses the
subjectivity of representation and the
performativity of her subjects as a spring board
for creative possibilities. Yefman says, "I feel
an obligation to be part of the work. If I say
something about other people, I have to show
something of myself. I too am a subject, I too
am vulnerable."
There is a slippage
between how Martha desires to be seen----static,
alluring, impenetrable, entrancing----and the
dynamics of Yefman's expansive project. The
cinemá vérité influenced videos
address the myth of the power relationship
between model and photographer, as they show
Martha attempting to direct the scenes. Yefman
celebrates Martha's flamboyance, but also
articulates the fragility of the man behind the
mask. The deeply empathic relationship between
Yefman and Martha results in an engrossing and
heterogenous narrative comprised of images,
sound, text, and installation.
Rona Yefman graduated
from the MFA program at Columbia University
School of the Arts in 2009. She recently had
solo exhibitions at the SculptureCenter, New
York, Participant, Inc., New York, and group
exhibitions at the Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Tel
Aviv Museum of Art, and Lombard Fried Projects,
New York. Yefman was born in Israel. She
currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Derek Eller Gallery
is located at 615 West 27th Street, between 11th
and 12th Avenues. Hours are Tuesday - Saturday
from 11am - 6pm. For further information or
visuals, please contact the gallery at 212.206.6411
or visit www.derekeller.com
Date:
From 18-Nov-11 (All day) through 07-Jan-12 (All day)Location:
Derek Eller Gallery 615 West 27th Street New York, NY 10001Contact:
Visual ArtsInfo:
For further information regarding this event, please contact Visual Arts by sending email to visualarts@columbia.edu .Related
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Columbia University School of the Arts offers MFA degrees in Film, Theatre Arts, Visual Arts, and Writing, an MA degree in Film Studies, a joint JD/MFA degree in Theatre Management & Producing, and a PhD degree in Theatre History, Literature, and Theory.
Columbia University School of the Arts offers MFA degrees in Film, Theatre Arts, Visual Arts, and Writing, an MA degree in Film Studies, a joint JD/MFA degree in Theatre Management & Producing, and a PhD degree in Theatre History, Literature, and Theory.