Performance: Passportraits by Efrat Zehavi
As part of the ME/YOU, US/THEM exhibition opening, a visual artist and writer Efrat Zehavi will shape a plasticine portrait of the guests while engaging in a conversation with them. A well-known Passportraits series reflects the mix of identities that we encounter on the streets every day.
Visual artist and writer Efrat Zehavi is known for the plasticine portraits she models on the spot. Her themes are origin, family, and migration. Having moved to Rotterdam from Haifa in 2001, she became fascinated by the facial variations within the 170 different nationalities surrounding her. This led her to develop Passportraits, an ongoing traveling performance.
Efrat Zehavi: ‘Behind each face, there is a life story. I want to find out: where are you from? Who are you? Where are you going? For me, asking questions is the best way to counter prejudice. To avoid fearing each other. The portraits are also about overcoming my fear of others.’
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‘How to live together’ is a fundamental question of our human existence. Today we live in a reality more closely intertwined than ever, yet becoming more and more deeply divided. Not just because of the multitude of identities crowding our world, based on country, region, tribe, religion, culture, social class, or skin colour: not just because of ‘Us and Them’. Also because of ‘Me and You’: because we live in a world where people as individuals are increasingly unable to get along, from fighting their next-door neighbours to opposing anyone with a different opinion or background to the growing fear of strangers – of anyone who is other.
In this world, characterised by an unprecedented level of global connectivity, governments are reinforcing borders and building new walls and fences, while social and economic inequalities persist and grow. The exhibition ‘ME/YOU, US/THEM’ presents the work of artists, designers, and architects who explore the intricate knots of identity, the multitude of coexisting identities, the concepts of ‘me’ and ‘you’, ‘us’ and ‘them’, and how we do or do not, get along.
The exhibition will examine the issue of ‘how to live together’ on a scale varying from the border politics of nation-states to the interactions of individuals. By valuing and embracing diversity, societies can unlock their potential for innovation, creativity, and social progress. Ultimately, it all starts with our willingness, or unwillingness, to live together in a world full of contradictions.
The exhibition is on show until 30 June 2024 @droog.