Hadar Mitz
Artist Statement
Two children carrying a disposable cheap camera are staring through the glass of the vast Savana. Both situated in an architectural construction; neon green signs hinting the interior of a spaceship, a sort of futuristic Noah’s ark. Those could be the last deers to ever be documented.
During my last visit at the American Natural History Museum, I had an epiphany that actually, our fates, our future, it is all sealed. Exactly like in Chris Marker’s movie “La Jetee” I keep pondering over the consequences of the past moving onto the future, trapped in a nonsensical loop of time and space. This in turn awakened in me a need to break down this loop into various moments; Photography, by its essence, captures single moments in a specific time. In my practice, I expand this primary function, subverting the “Decisive Moment” to create an alternative perception of time, while exploring it as a durational, temporal human experience.
​
​
The French Philosopher Henri Bergson objected to the physical perception of time (e.g., spacetime). Instead, he offered an intuitive sagacity terming it The Continuation (la Duree). Bergson considered time to be differentiated from space and matter as they are divided and quantified. Subsequently, time is indivisible and in constant flux. Correspondingly, my reflection of it is intertwined with the human observation of Nature; where change, continuous progression, deterioration and resurgence occur. Following those events, my art deals with the experience of impermanence and infinity embodying our sense of NOW. This transpire through the act of photography of ephemeral objects such as skulls, flowers, butterflies, stuffed animals. Deconstruction of encyclopedias, imagination, and mythological themes, whilst manipulating them at the hand of collage, animation and video art. Curiously these mediums relate to the concept of time as well, stretching and shortening time, like a geologic stratum assembling different layers of time.
​
From the early stages in my career as an artist, the fragility and vagueness of humanity and its experience with Nature, have been the core of my practice. Our conception of time, death, uncertainty, and all living and growing forms is the substance of my artistic process. And although we humans reach the stars and travel the universe, we’ve forgotten we are not godlike, but merely a thin thread of life’s gentle tapestry, a single link in earth’s constant metamorphosis, with constant Memento Mori looming over our existence. This is even more precise during our present times, with critical changes in human interaction and manner due to unforeseen circumstances. If I were to reference Gauguin’s iconic painting Where Do We Come From, What Are We, and Where Are We Going? Integral questions that have followed me throughout my artistic artery, have greater weighing and are vital considering the current forces of Nature. The images I create attain an even deeper context, as the ecological and political aspects of our lives are weaved into the poetic and contemplative ones, and thus enriching my oeuvre with new contemporary – or perhaps timeless - meaning.