Efrat Shvili’s photographs and videos give expression to socio-political processes and phenomena in a wide range of genres from landscape photography to portraiture. Her subject is Israeli society and identity, as well as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Her work combines formalistic perception with a conceptual approach, encompassing both socio-political and personal narratives. In its dialectical outlook, her oeuvre confronts the viewer with a complex position: point counterpoint, one r [...]
Efrat Shvili’s photographs and videos give expression to socio-political processes and phenomena in a wide range of genres from landscape photography to portraiture. Her subject is Israeli society and identity, as well as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Her work combines formalistic perception with a conceptual approach, encompassing both socio-political and personal narratives. In its dialectical outlook, her oeuvre confronts the viewer with a complex position: point counterpoint, one reality vis-à-vis another, individual versus community. Shvili became well-known for her two early series, both presented in CPG, ”New Homes in Israel and the Occupied Territories“ (1992–1998) and ”Palestinian Cabinet Ministers“ (2000). While the first series questioned the relationship between Israelis and the land through photographs of austere landscapes and construction sites, the second series gave visibility to a new image of the Palestinian as statesman rather than terrorist. In her later works, Shvili examined myths and rituals that have to do with the formation of the Israeli identity and collective memory. During her career, Shvili has exhibited in a number of leading international venues including the 50th Venice Biennale, the NY Photography Triennial, the KW Center for Contemporary Art in Berlin, the Center for Contemporary Art Witte de With in Rotterdam, and the 8th International Istanbul Biennial.