"Infected Bodies"

Between March and May 2020, the Israeli government declared a "state of emergency" to handle the threat of a new, little-understood epidemic. A series of restrictions were imposed, including physical policing, isolation, and social distancing. The new norms entailed by the coronavirus crisis began to seep into public life, like the virus itself.

This exhibition presents works by a group of photographers, created in response to the new way of life forced on the public. In this existential condition the body became the arena in which the epidemic operates; our physical existence was at once threatened and threatening. Our attention was constantly drawn to the body, with symptoms tested, distances measured, proper hygiene advised, and explanations given on how to avoid droplet transmission. This surplus engagement with the body entailed instructions on how to reduce bodily contact: we were admonished to wear face masks and gloves, refrain from physical contact, stay at home as much as possible, maintain physical distancing, and more. The elderly and susceptible were asked to confine themselves to their home.

For weeks, the individual was reduced to no more than a biological organism. Political power mechanisms were directed towards the living body, leading to a global surrender to supervision and control. Relevant in this context is Giorgio Agamben's controversial essay "Bare Life," which describes life under the threat of a virus, a life that reduces the free individual to survival-based thinking and the protection of biological existence at all costs – even at the cost of freedom. During this period of isolation and quarantine, the call for obedience led to the glorification of the domestic space as a safe haven. Yet for many, the home became a prison.

The new virus evolved into a pandemic, introducing the "age of coronavirus." In this age the virus's invisibility contrasts with the immense power it has over mankind. A deficit has been created in the image – the representation of the unseen virus that cannot be mapped or conceptualized. Imagined reality comes to dominate tangible reality, and doubts begin to surface.

The works presented in the exhibition seek to bridge the gap between the real and the imagined, signifying the human need for visibility. They engage with three main spheres: the enclosed domestic space, the policed body, and the relationship between man and nature. All these arenas reflect the same aspiration – to achieve a grip on reality, even if that grip is an illusion.

* The exhibition features works by photographers participating in the master-class workshop "Body-Object-Portrait," led by artist Sagit Zaluf Namir.