Curator: Maya Anner
Digitally processed work, 1:00, projection with sound
Credit: Shaul Tchernichovsky, “Ani Ma’amin” / “Sachki Sachki” 1894, a secular-socialist anthem
Anthem (with DAS) offers a convergence of history, identity and rebellion that undergoes a visual and auditory journey. Against the background of the iconic Coney Island, an immigrant neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, and a symbol of an esoteric fringe culture, encompassing freak shows and an amusement park, stand the two characters of Gandalf and Roni, members of the pop/art band DAS. They are wearing blue shirts with a red drawstring – the uniform associated with HaNoar HaOved v’HaLomed youth movement.
The uniform’s blue hue symbolizes the working class, and the red lace stands as a symbol of blood, as well as the movement’s socialist approach, established in 1924, before the founding of the State. The colors contrast and confront past ideals with those of an ever-changing capitalist present.
The original photograph from 2013 was intended for a music video by DAS concerning the gap between Israel and New York in Yefman’s identity. Now, in its animated digital version created especially for PHOTO IS:RAEL 11th International Photography Festival, Anthem (with Das) is once again relevant in its representation of the artist’s experience of an actual existential threat to her identity, causing the image to become horrific and pseudo-absurd in the face of resilience.
The soundtrack, a rebellious mix of the eternal youth movement anthem collated with punk distortion, echoes the dichotomy present in the work, and as the song plays, the picture shows the dreamers and the broken hearted – revealing a clash between past values and the rebellious spirit of the 1980s and 1990s, and their fragility in the wake of the current reality.
The production of the work was abruptly halted by the attack and tragedy of October 7th. In its wake, the attempt to address the profound complexity transforms the works into an anthem, a lament, an outcry.
