Some Body, 2010

"A photograph I had taken in 2002 shows a dead man lying in house ruins, while half of his body is covered in rocks. The man is wearing grey socks and no shoes. Six years later I watched the film Jenin Jenin, by director and actor Muhamad Bakri. On the time-line 02:43, during a three-second sequence, I recognised the exact same image I had taken in my photograph. Looking closely at these two documents, one a photograph and the other a film still, one sees there are minor differences in the positioning. A rock appears only in the film still, the body slightly moved as well. Questions of reality, truth, the document come to mind and the surreal idea that Bakri and myself were at the same moment in time and space, or were we?" by Ariel Reichman.

Ariel Reichman

1979, Johannesburg (South Africa). Emigrated to Israel in 1991. Lives and works in Berlin. "My endeavours bring me to re-think the politics by using an intimate approach. One's subjective memories, daily rituals and fantasies are the basis of my interests. I am attracted by the state-of-mind of things; the possibility of encountering victory as well as defeat and total failure -never gazing from a distance, as the other, but rather working from the inside. Surely the intimate is political, and through this agreement one can attempt to understand the politics of one's self and one's surroundings, be it truth or fiction, historical reality or fable. The intimate can help explain the political in a profound and deep way."
Ariel Reichman studied at the Bezalel Academy of Art in Jerusalem, and received a Master of Fine Arts from Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK) by Katharina Sieverding and Hito Steyerl. He works in the fields of photography, film, performance, drawing, sculpture and installation. His work has been exhibited at Program Gallery, Berlin, Museum of Modern Art, Moscow and Mediations Biennale, Poland, plus other exhibitions in Paris, Tel Aviv and Germany.