Last month, Lazarides Gallery opened a brand new show by Addam Yekutieli aka Know Hope. It Took Me Till Now to Find You is the Israeli artist’s second solo with the gallery, four years following his successful debut (covered).
Taking a turn from his previous work, this exhibition is the result of a large project that he has been working on for the last several months. After years of creating a recognizable visual language that universally speaks of real-life situations and human struggle, this particular body of work is more personal and focused on a very particular problem – the Segregation Wall. Consisting of large cement pieces and small cabinet-like assemblages, the entire body of work is based on actual letters written by both Palestinians and Israelis. Laboriously carving one line from each letter into a concrete slab that represents sections of infamous wall, Yekutieli wanted to show the hopelessness of the situation and the strength needed to overcome it. Further accenting the depth of the issue, he added olive tree roots to these pieces, both symbolizing peace and the unquestionable connection to the land where these conflicts take place.
To accompanying these works, the Tel Aviv-based artist created a series of assemblages that consists of original handwritten letters, the tool used to scratch the text into the wall, bottles of dust accumulated from the scratching and a painting of silhouettes of the roots of a tree (painted using the accumulated dust as pigment). Approaching the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through such a poetic and dedicated narrative, Know Hope raises the awareness of the complexity of the situation as well as highlights the human strength and will needed to surpass it all. This exceptional showcase will stay on view through the 10th of June.
Discuss Know Hope here.
