Sigalit Landau

Mermaids (Erasing the Border of Azkelon), 2011

Landaus many-layered work touches on the realms of myth, history, politics, the body and topography. Landau’s frequently radical and sometimes poetic language attracts or repels the senses, evoking vague yearning or deep revulsion. Mermaids [Erasing the Border of Azkelon], 2011, takes place on the beach between Aza (Gaza) and the Israeli city of Ashkelon. ‘Azkelon’ is a composite word used to describe the two cities, which share the same beach, but are separated by the border. As a place, ‘Azkelon’, like the mermaids, belongs to the world of fairytale and the imagination. The viewer sees three women (shown from above and from a fixed camera angle) running out of the water and falling forwards on to the sand. Like the crashing waves that give the video an acoustic rhythm, the women cannot resist the invisible force that pulls them back into the sea. The traces that they leave written into the sand will be erased by the next wave.