The exhibition “Through the Reeds” features photo etchings by the photographer and poet Dani Nagar. These images were created following a two-and-a-half-year long journey around the Sea of Galilee, in the course of which he captured the landscape of the lake during different seasons of the year and different times of day. Nagar chose to focus his gaze on a landscape devoid of any human presence, a choice that highlights the stillness and power of the natural world. For him, the Sea of Galilee represents a symbolic and cultural sphere that has been a source of life and a magnet for human settlements ever since the dawn of civilization, and which carries a deeply significant charge in Israeli society.
These photographs – which capture the change of seasons and the play of light and shade on the water – served as the basis for etchings in shades of black, white and gray, which endow the images with a sense of depth and a poetic quality. The works capture moments in which the Sea of Galilee is revealed as a sublime expanse, in which the simplicity of the water exists harmoniously with the power of the ever-changing natural landscape. His works reveal a precise and nuanced approach to line and drawing, which succeeds in catching ephemeral moments in nature and endowing them with a visual dimension.
The exhibition is on display in the Nehushtan Pavilion, which is devoted to the connection between humans and nature through its focus on the ancient copper industry. The historical technique of photo etching, which was usually executed on copper plates, forges a connection between the landscape of the Galilee and the barren desert landscape of the copper mines at Timna, thus exposing the nuanced connection between landscape, matter and artistic creation.
The etching technique was developed in Germany in the 16th century, and quickly came to capture in print images of journeys and landscapes, including the Sea of Galilee and its surroundings. In the technique of photo etching, the image is transferred to the copper plate by means of light, much like the process of developing a photograph. The process then continues with the creation of the photo etching. In the current exhibition, this technique is endowed with new life, which forges a connection between contemporary art-making, the local landscape, and the cultural legacy of etching, adding a poetic dimension to the visual experience.
