Sharon Ya’ari
1966, Israel. Lives and works in Tel Aviv

For Israeli photographer Sharon Ya’ari, the landscape is not really a
landscape; there is nothing concrete in it that justifies photographing it, except for some minor human activity that has no rules, and no function. The places Ya’ari photographs are completely ordinary, and since they are transitory, the human activity in them is transitory, exposing their absurdity
The episodes that Ya’ari photographs are fleeting; this is mainly a function of how long it takes to photograph them. However, it is also due to the pessimism he feels as he travels, choosing to stop at the most meager spots. The human activity in these locations begs to be interpreted. In all of these works, political significance exists as a metaphor, not as part of the narrative

The banality, the interim places he chooses are charged with meaning by the independent, internal reality that exists when he photographs them. The time it takes to photograph, and Ya_ari_s presence in a place, give the photograph meaning - even more than the occurrence itself.

Selected solo exhibitions: 2001: Lombard-Freid, New York; 2000: Sommer Contemporary, Tel Aviv; 1999: Museum of Art, Herzylia, Israel.
Selected group exhibitions: 2000: Aspiration, RIFFE, Columbus, Ohio/ Buenos Aires; Contemporary Landscape, MoCA, Roskilde/ Denmark & Trondheim Kunstferning, Oslo; 1999: Surveying the Lanscape, Lombard-Freid, New York; 1998: Condition Report, Photography in Israel today, Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Habitation, Museum of Art, Herzylia.



Hidden, 2003. C-Print, ed.7, 60 x 148 cm.

Freeway, 2002. C-Print, ed.6, 124 x 144 cm. Courtesy Lombard-Fried, New York.