honorable mention
Yoav Friedlander united states
Photo © Yoav Friedlander
title
The Last Fire Squad
My work presents a chaotic perception of an “Americanized Israeli”; composed of American culture, desert landscapes and war. It is based on the recognition that reality is mediated through images as we experience many aspects of our world through photographs and not in person. I mix images of Scale models I build with landscapes. The models are recreations of memories, collective and personal, places I saw only through photographs and other places I could only see in photographs due to restricted access. Like photographs this scale models share an indexical relation to the origin. I make them, and photograph them with the intent that they will echo the realism of the original and bare the illusion of the photograph. While Photographs refer to reality my models refer to the images that represent that reality. Both enable external observation of a reality through its copy.
Photography, that by then became more than a hobby, was interrupted by the army service. Therefore I had to shift from combat position to an administrative one that allowed me to follow my ambitions. In the fall of 2007, only 4 months after completing my mandatory service, I’ve started my B.A in Photography, at Hadassah Academic College Jerusalem.
After 4 years in college I’ve moved to New York to pursue my artistic ambitions and deepen my search in the medium of photography. 8 months after moving to New York I’ve started my MFA in Photography at the School Of Visual Arts, and I graduated in May 2014. New York became my personal diaspora, a distance from which I can examine my past and look into a present where I am acting as visitor rather than a participant.
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entry description
This is a miniature scale model that I built and photographed based on a real facility, the last fire squad that was still in service in 2014 (Dallas, TX). A first image in a forming series that is set to examine the psychology behind the aesthetics of execution facilities. This one is based on the last, still operating, execution by a gun facility in the United States. Nothing is a coincidence when the sandbags, platform, chair and straps are all painted black and then placed in a bleak white room. The design echoes the sadistic mind facilitating the execution.My work presents a chaotic perception of an “Americanized Israeli”; composed of American culture, desert landscapes and war. It is based on the recognition that reality is mediated through images as we experience many aspects of our world through photographs and not in person. I mix images of Scale models I build with landscapes. The models are recreations of memories, collective and personal, places I saw only through photographs and other places I could only see in photographs due to restricted access. Like photographs this scale models share an indexical relation to the origin. I make them, and photograph them with the intent that they will echo the realism of the original and bare the illusion of the photograph. While Photographs refer to reality my models refer to the images that represent that reality. Both enable external observation of a reality through its copy.
about the photographer
I was born in Jerusalem and spent most of my life in my hometown town of Maale Adummim. Between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, on a limestone hill at the edge of the Judean mountains my perception of the world got its shape. After 18 years of preparations I’ve joined the army for a mandatory service of 3 years. I’ve started my service as a paratrooper and fulfilled my childhood dream of following my father’s footsteps. Throughout my combat training I’ve sneaked cameras or phones capable of capturing photos ( at the time it was a new thing). I wasn’t interested in documentation but in finding unique situations and training ground scenery that were inaccessible for me outside of the army.Photography, that by then became more than a hobby, was interrupted by the army service. Therefore I had to shift from combat position to an administrative one that allowed me to follow my ambitions. In the fall of 2007, only 4 months after completing my mandatory service, I’ve started my B.A in Photography, at Hadassah Academic College Jerusalem.
After 4 years in college I’ve moved to New York to pursue my artistic ambitions and deepen my search in the medium of photography. 8 months after moving to New York I’ve started my MFA in Photography at the School Of Visual Arts, and I graduated in May 2014. New York became my personal diaspora, a distance from which I can examine my past and look into a present where I am acting as visitor rather than a participant.
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