Ori Gersht : Forces of Nature : Film and Photography

Blurred landscapes, falling trees and the lofty peaks of the Pyrenees – the extraordinary aesthetics of Ori Gersht’s work seduce the viewer. But beneath the beautiful first appearances lie the sites of historical events – in this way the artist makes visible what is no longer plain to see.

Blurred landscapes, falling trees and the lofty peaks of the Pyrenees – the extraordinary aesthetics of Ori Gersht’s work seduce the viewer. But beneath the beautiful first appearances lie the sites of historical events – in this way the artist makes visible what is no longer plain to see. Ori Gersht (* 1967) views the landscape as the location of past events. On his journeys he follows the traces of the past and translates the process of remembering into powerfully expressive images. The impressive panorama of the Pyrenees, for example, is a site of a desperate flight from the National Socialists. His works of art are metaphors for the unsolvable relationships between past and present, between life and death. They are in the liminal space between (natural) forces and destruction on the one hand, and beauty and grandeur on the other. The images unfold their poetry and horror simultaneously in an extensive pictorial series.