Michal BarOr

The artwork Abandoned Property by Michal BarOr was part of the exhibition Tell me about ~~yesterday~~ tomorrow (Nov. 28, 2019 until Oct. 18, 2020).

About the artist

In her artistic practice, Michal BarOr (born in Safed in 1984) examines how knowledge is organized, broken down, and presented. She is interested in the power relations and ideologies that underlie the transmission and dissemination of information, as well as how they connect with history and identity. In installations made up of photographs, texts, and objects, she tries to highlight the political and cultural conditions inherent in depictions of history and the present day.

Inkjet prints, archival pigment
prints, dimensions variable

Michal BarOr’s installation deals with the history of Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, not far from the Gaza Strip. During the Israeli War of Independence, in 1948, the kibbutz was occupied for six months by Egyptian soldiers, who had driven out the Jewish inhabitants. Seeking traces of this period, BarOr turns to everyday items and objects, especially those deemed “abandoned property” – Palestinian property that was left behind in the surrounding area in 1948 or brought to the kibbutz by the Egyptian occupying forces. These everyday items, such as copper trays, earthenware jugs, and patterned tiles, tell varying stories of flight. BarOr presents these objects through the stories about how they were acquired. In some cases, the current owners present them by holding the items up to the camera. From these objects, BarOr builds a narrative about how those who were refugees themselves dealt with the possessions of other refugees, and shows how trauma – and survival – were passed down along with these items. The installation was first shown at Kibbutz Yad Mordechai in 2016.

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