Urban Dreams

Joelle Yas'ur Exhibition

Curator: Dr. Gilad Padva

Joelle Yas'ur, a Tel-Aviv-born urban artist, is particularly attracted to balconies. She is attracted to these dramatic parts of the building which are liminal spheres, on threshold between the interior and the exterior, between shielding privacy and the public domain that provokes the a curious gaze. The balcony functions as a display window but, at the same time, it is an abandoned territory, not an integral part of the domestic-intimate sphere. Yet, this territory is not totally strange for the artist. She attempts to open balconies to her soul that might enable a multi-directional outlook: she looks at the urban realm, her childhood and adult lives' landscape, whereas the viewer acquires an intimate look at her existentiality.

"I would expect that every person will have a sort of balcony to her/his soul," she claims, "a place where he can go outside and breathe fresh air." Yas'ur considers fences, blockades, bars and lattices – typical to her work – as means of defense, although she realizes that overprotection might become a new blockade. Now, however, she feels more emancipated, uncommitted to surround herself by daily and symbolic means of protection. She is ready for self exposure. Her art is more liberated and open to new, empowering choices.