Wednesday 11 April 2012

Ori Gersht: This Storm Is What We Call Progress

Ori Gerst is an Israeli-born, London based artist who is currently presenting his work based on world war and blossoms at the Imperial War Museum in London. The title of the show is called This Storm Is What We Call Progress which opened at the start of IWM London's Holocaust Day and is Gerst's first major solo exhibition in the UK.

The exhibition presents images and two HD films.




Will You Dance For Me depicts an 85-year-old dancer rocking back and forth in a chair, slowly recounting her experience as a young woman who refused to dance at a SS officer's party and was punished by standing barefoot in the snow all night and she pledged that if she survived she would dedicate her life to dance.



Evaders is a two screen film which explores the mountainous path of Lister Route that was used by many to escape Nazi-occupied France. The film focuses on the ill-fated journey of a Jewish writer and philosopher called Walter Benjamin, whose own words gave the exhibition its title. Walter Benjamin travelled across france to get to Spain so he could travel to the United States, when Benjamin got to the border, it was closed so Benjamin committed suicide as he could not continue.

Chasing Good Fortune, Night Fly 1, 2010

The photographic work Chasing Good Fortune examines the shifting symbolism of Japanese cherry blossoms that came to be linked with Kamikaze soldiers during world war two.

Gerst's work often deals with conflict, history and geographical place. Each work in this show disguise dark and complex themes beneath seductive, beautiful imagery.

The exhibition has been developed in partnership with Photoworks.

Bibliography








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