I was intrigued by the invitation to set up a photo booth for the art festival Seven Muses in Seven Booths. The organizers invited seven artists from different genres, each of whom would be given a 3x3 meter booth in which to show an exhibition or project for the two days of the art festival. The idea was to hang various works in the booth, inspired by the tradition of decorating the sukka (Hebrew for “booth”) during the Sukkot holiday. However, I saw the invitation as an opportunity to create an interactive site-specific work which would encourage the participation of visitors in an ongoing event during the festival.
I thought of an expansion or adaptation of a work I had exhibited in 1998, at the Jerusalem Artists House. For the new exhibit, I divided the space in three: In one section I placed a rack on which I hung numerous sets of clothing which stereotypically represented various sectors of the Israeli population. The second section was designed as a changing room, while the third was a "photography studio" and printing station.
Visitors to the festival were invited to change their appearance and thus their external identities, and for a moment to step into a different existence. Every participant was photographed before and after changing clothes. Each one also had the option of providing a sentence as a "caption" for his or her photograph, which referred to the figure he or she chose to personify. This sentence was then printed on the image, adding another layer of commentary or subtext. A short time later the photographs were printed and hung on the outside walls of the booth or sukka. Participants also received a magnet displaying the photograph of them in costume. The intense interaction with the diverse audience and the conversations which were triggered by topics such as identity, stereotypes, stigmas, photography and art, were especially rewarding and enriching for me.
