Dani Karavan, Man walking on railways

Counterlight belongs to a trilogy with Mother Economy (2007) and Black and White Rule (2011), focusing on the Shoah and the philosophical concept of remembrance.

In this video, the work’s narrative and expressive nucleus is the figure of the Jewish poet Paul Celan, who managed to escape from the deportations but lost his parents to Nazi persecution. His life ended tragically with his suicide in Paris in April of 1970, at 50 years of age.

The central figure in the video is a woman shown as she calculates, reads, and cuts out words and images, stitching back together a sequence of events that brought horror into the heart of cultured Europe. Celan, whose voice can also be heard, is the common thread running through this path into remembrance re-emerging from recollections and history. Maya Zack visually evokes the individual condition of the Romanian poet and his family, to underscore how the Nazi-Fascist delirium struck families, interpersonal relationships, love, and affections with the aim of erasing the very concept of humanity.

Maya Zack (Tel Aviv 1976). An artist and director, she teaches at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. Her works have been exhibited in museums, galleries, and international film festivals. Her solo and collective shows include: Bodyscapes, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (2020); Exil, Charim Galerie, Vienna (2019); Hidden Workers, Korean Museum of Art, Seoul (2018); Menorah – Culto, Storia e Mito, Musei Vaticani - Braccio di Carlo Magno, Stato del Vaticano (2017); Counterlight, Tel Aviv Museum of Art (2016); Shabbat Room, The Jewish Museum, Vienna (2013); Moscow Biennial for Young Art (2012); Living Room, The Jewish Museum, New York (2011)

Zack’s work has garnered numerous film and art prizes, including: Isracard and Tel Aviv Museum Prize for Israeli Artists (2011); Idud Hayetzira Prize – Israeli Ministry of Culture (2011); Adi Prize - Adi Foundation and the Israel Museum Jerusalem (2010); Celeste Kunstpreis Berlin (2008), Israel Lottery Council Grant (2007); CCA – Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv Fund For Art (2005).