SIREN
(2009-2024)
This project which began in 2009 explores the formation of collective identity and memory around the siren and the landscapes it form. The photographs were made with an 8x10 camera on highways during annual memorial days and in the moment of siren. The siren holds a multiple of meanings in Israeli society - It serves as a means of protection, signalling when shelter in necessary from an immediate threat. Yet, the same sound of siren also marks memorial days in Israel, and thus connecting the notion of threat with memory, ideology, and the intersection of past and present. In these images, the notion of control becomes evident on multiple levels, when a central authority (the state / "the big other") presses a button, causing all citizens to quite literally stand still, making apparent the triangular power dynamic between landscape, state, and citizen. The choice of highways as the setting is significant—they represent spaces of high speed, yet during the siren, the world slows down, pausing in a moment that is ultimately captured as an image. The presence of people in these photographs is also crucial, as they become inextricable parts of the project, unable to escape their role in this shared photographic experience.