Exhibition | "When Is Enough?"

Artist: Hanan Abu-Hussein
Guest artist: Yarin Abu Hamda
Curator: Maayan Israeli

When Is Enough Enough?

The physically demanding and laborious work involved in Hanan Abu-Hussein’s creative process remains visible in her works, alongside patterns created through repetitive, circular action. The very repetition in the works expresses the futility of an endeavor without a beginning or end, the changing seasons, and the cycle of life. For example, the wool curtain greeting us at the gallery entrance is connected to the custom of opening blankets, mattresses, and pillows before each winter, releasing the wool filling from them, airing it, returning it, and repeating the process—a Sisyphean action that does produce a benefit, but has no apparent endpoint and is destined to recur for many years.

Repetitive practices offer the soul relief, like that obtained through repeating a mantra, praying, or engaging in a meditative action that frees one from troubling thoughts. They also create consistency, rhythm, and structure, as well as a sense of control and self-discipline. Yet repetition can sometimes express an uncontrollable or unstoppable compulsiveness, an unsettling manifestation of obsession.

The density, excess, and accumulation created through repetition overwhelm us simultaneously with maternal warmth and existential anxiety. For a moment, they immerse us in an experience of suspension, and in the blink of an eye generate claustrophobia and an intense need to find the nearest escape route.

Abu-Hussein generally creates with basic, everyday materials bearing historical, gendered, and cultural significance, such as the plumbing pipes and connectors comprising The Destruction of the Father VII—materials that suggest “dirty” male labor, but which here create a three-dimensional drawing that fills the exhibition space with an encompassing, labyrinthine presence while remaining light and airy at the same time. One can lose oneself in the forest of pipes formed in the space, yet throughout the journey eye contact is maintained with the outside, with the refuge located beyond that plumbing mashrabiya.

In contrast to the “masculine” materials Hanan uses, there are also works made of “feminine” materials, such as the work consisting of buttons and embroidery thread, inspired by the artist’s mother, who used to sew. Yet their exaggerated size evokes a surreal sense of threat. Or the spiral of tiny baby dolls, which instead of serving as a toy for girls intended to awaken their maternal instinct, arouses in us discomfort and a feeling of pain resulting from the accumulation, the wounding connection, and the treatment of the doll as an element without a distinct gender identity.

The works are presented in one version among many, since by their very fractal nature they can continue to grow, develop, and constantly change form. The fractals create organic patterns that add layers of meaning to the whole and raise questions about our place in society. What makes one individual significant within the multitude? What does it mean to exist within the crowd, and what will happen if one removes oneself from it?

Contact: Noa Weiss-Simon
Phone: 02-5468892