Yoav Friedlander
Statement:
My work presents the chaotic perception of an “Americanized Israeli”; composed of mediated American culture, desert landscapes, and war, which is an integral part of my life.
I mix Scale models with straight photographs, both of Israel and the US, and I form a conjunction between two different cultures and sets of geographical locations .I am relying on preexisting images when photographing, as I am aware that I cannot reverse the influence of those images on my vision.
The miniatures are recreations of places I don’t have physical access to: memories, and images of places and spaces that I saw through photographs. I make them with the intent that they will echo the realism of the original and bare the illusion of the photograph.
All of my landscapes are shot from the same standpoint, the margins of the road. They are only as far as I can see. While in Israel I’m adapted to see the landscape from the viewpoint of a car, always ready for quick escape, in the U.S. I’m bound to the same position only due to the privatization of the land. The images I make form the illusion I’m roaming the land and fully accessing it.
Bio:
Yoav’s Grandfather Kurt fled Austria immediately to Israel after the Kristallnacht, was a British Brigades soldier during WWII and later served in the Israeli Army. After High School Yoav joined the Israeli army for a mandatory service as a paratrooper, and became the fourth generation of army soldiers. He grew up in the valleys of the Judean Desert between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, and considers himself native to Israel but uprooted from his past. Friedländer received B.A in photography from Hadassah College Jerusalem (2011), and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts (2014). Friedländer’s work has been shown internationally at Belfast Photo Festival, Dusseldorf Photo Weekend, Eretz Israel Museum and at the Bronx Museum of the Art Biennial.
Artist’s Website: yoavfriedlander.com