Keren Benbenisty

A series of 26 works on paper; collage; two-channel video-animation on 12” inch screens, 2019/2021

Based on historical printed matter, archival materials, and contemporary geographical data, this body of work recalls the relationship between typography and topography through the concept of ‘revolving’, a recurring element in my work emphasizing change (from the Latin word revolver).

Following the rules of Verlan, a type of French slang, the word in the collage—”faJaf”—is a result of reversing the syllables of the word “Jaffa,” an iconic and politically charged brand of oranges that is also the name of a Palestinian city that has now been absorbed into Tel-Aviv. It produces a meaningless word that, like an erasure mark, signifies an attempt to correct.

The complete mapping  project, a product of the ‘Palestine Exploration Fund’ between 1881 and 1887 as part of ‘The Survey of Western Palestine’, comprised 26 maps. In this project, I printed each map at its original size, then erased it. I manually coated it with Prussian blue pigment, rubbed onto the paper. Every place whose name has been changed since the maps were produced is marked with an orange peel that is glued to the paper and covers the location in question. The gestures of erasure and mark-making not only blur the scientific data underpinning the work of the cartographers but also transform the earth into the sky; the maps become abstract images, challenging the nature of cartography and resembling celestial charts. 

The work’s title is taken from a book part of the PEF Survey; it provides the translation and meaning of all Arabic place-names appearing on the maps. The printing, marking, and erasing techniques echo the methodical and thorough efforts that took place (and continue today) to Hebraicize Arabic place-names in Israel. The erasure of local histories and identities of the place has long been part of the Zionist project and has served to imprint its ideology on the land.

Untitled XIV, Archival digital print, Prussian Blue dry pigment, orange peels and glue (detail)

Untitled XIV, Archival digital print, Prussian blue oil pigment, orange peels and glue, 26″ X 32″ in.

 

Untitled XIII, Archival digital print, Prussian Blue dry pigment, orange peels and glue, 26″ X 32″ in.

 

Untitled XII, Archival digital print, Prussian Blue dry pigment, orange peels and glue, 26″ X 32″ in.

 

Untitled X, Archival digital print, Prussian Blue dry pigment, orange peels and glue, 26″ X 32″ in.

N. E., Two-channel-video animation, 6’20, loop