FRAGILITY
Galit Barak
Israel

The artworks feature red gravel stones arranged on a mesh net facing inwards. These stones were sourced from the area of Al-Kunayyisa, an Arab village that was occupied and ethnically cleansed in 1948. Today, the village’s ruins are difficult to locate, as they are surrounded by an industrial area.
Fragility emerges here as both material and emotional. The red gravel: small, breakable fragments, rests on a delicate mesh that barely holds their weight, echoing the precarious balance of coexistence and memory. This fragile structure mirrors the vulnerability of personal and collective narratives: how they can crumble or be rebuilt, how acknowledging the other’s pain exposes our own. The work embodies the fragile act of seeing, of allowing empathy to unsettle certainty and open the boundaries of belonging.
This piece from an ongoing series shifts the focus to explore new, fragile, but also joined narratives, to create a space to hold both narratives and opens up the possibility to reimagine a new future for living on the land.

Brooch « You Are Not Allowed To Hold All The Sorrow », 2024
27x43x260 mm / 28 gr
Stainless steel, gravel stones, sterling silver, cotton thread
Assembled

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