One + One

An Exploration of Diptych by the Marie Gallery Artists

Group Exhibition | Marie Gallery | Jerusalem

December 21st 2023 - January 20th, 2024

Marie is a co-op, not-for-profit gallery founded in 2017 as an independent arts center. The gallery mounts exhibitions on a non-commercial basis, and its members see themselves as an integral part of the local community. The members of Marie Gallery promote artistic discourse between artists and strive to make Jerusalem a central city for the arts.

The biannual group exhibition was originally planned for October 19th, 2023, as part of the Manofim Art Festival, curated around the motif of diptych. The October 7th attacks suspended the work on the exhibition while the artists and the whole community reeled from and grieved the horrific tragedy. A collective decision was made to resume the work on the exhibition, now reoriented to the subsequent new, grim reality. One + One opened as a place for reflection, conversation & community.

Time.

5 Months

Role.

Curator | Graphic Designer

"‬The only true voyage of discovery ‮…‬ would be not to visit strange lands, but to possess other eyes‮"‬

Marcel Proust‭, ‬‘À‭ ‬la recherche du temps perdu‭', ‬1923

In a delicate dance between unity and duality‭, ‬the group exhibition‭ ‬‘One+One’‭ ‬invites viewers to experience the power of combination and the transformative potential hidden within the pairing of disparate‭ ‬elements‭. ‬This exploration of an expansive interpretation of‭ ‬‮'‬diptych‮'‬‭ ‬provided the Marie Gallery artists opportunities for introspection‭ ‬and recontextualization‭; ‬either through collaboration with‭ ‬another or through the discovery of novel connections within their own corpus‭. ‬

At the heart of this exhibition is the idea that when two entities come together‭, ‬they have the potential to create a third‭, ‬unique synthesis that goes beyond the individual contributions‭. ‬It is a contemplation of the relationships between the paired elements‭ - ‬be it colour and form‭, ‬tradition and innovation‭, ‬chaos and order‭. ‬The artists featured in this exhibition traverse various‭ ‬mediums and styles‭, ‬showcasing a rich tapestry of creative voices‭.‬

The horrific events of October 7th forced all of us‭, ‬as individuals and as a collective‭, ‬to reevaluate our most fundamental and‭ ‬primal axioms‭. ‬In an ode to the potent transformative energy generated when diverse perspectives converge‭, ‬‘One+One’‭ ‬suggests a methodology for processing this new‭, ‬jarring reality‭. ‬

By sparking a creative dialogue that extends beyond the confines of the artistic medium‭, ‬we challenge preconceived notions‭, ‬encouraging a deeper exploration of the interplay between unity and diversity‭, ‬our individuality & interconnectedness‭.‬

Installation View

Due to the fact that most artists would not have been able to create brand new works specifically for the exhibition, I understood that the diptych motif would be achieved through curatorial action. After building a corpus of all works sent in by the artists, I chose ‘couples’ of two existing works, to now comprise a new piece - a diptych.

I employed a dual approach to the ‘coupling’ - Either a joining of pieces from two different gallery members, taking advantage of this being a group exhibition; or a combination within an artist’s own body of work, exploring creative through lines and reinterpreting their meaning in a new context.