Osnat Ben Dov | Photography

"Through the Window"

Stone Administration Building, Entrance floor

Osnat Ben Dov photographs, presenting us with artworks created by nature itself. Rather than documenting existing, stable states and objects, she sensitively captures magical fleeting moments. Her photography resonates with the spirit of classical, figurative painting grounded in close observation, known as still life (termed stilleven in Dutch and “nature morte,” or “dead nature” in French).

In a sense, Ben Dov hunts for situations unfolding in the complex interplay of light, matter, and time. She arrests her gaze, along with the camera lens, at the outer boundaries of the photographed bodies, structures, fruits, or objects. But if we linger somewhat to examine the details of the photograph closely, we may gain insights and sensations arising from processes occurring below the surface — underneath the fruit’s epidermis, beyond the material limits of the photographed object. Put simply, Ben Dov captures the outer surface of fruits and objects, while revealing their inner essence.

In an interview with Frances Brent in the Moment Magazine, following the destruction of her exhibition at Be’eri Gallery by Hamas on October 7, 2023, Ben Dov said: “My works move along the delicate seam between the sublime and the ordinary, between the sacred and the mundane. I find great beauty in the simple things of everyday life. To me, they are a source of vitality and desire.”

Ben Dov works with natural light, which penetrates (almost, one might say, infiltrates) into her studio or home through the window, most often a north-facing one, through which the light entering is relatively faint and soft. “The northern light emerges from the darkness,” she says, “resting upon the objects, accentuating textures, and revealing the colors. It awakens reality and breathes life into it.”

The objects and forms thus photographed have an illuminated side and a less illuminated side, echoing the dynamics of concealment and revelation, light and shadow, between the moon and the earth in relation to the sun. In effect, they function as reflectors, casting new light toward one another (and upon each other), thereby shaping the color and luminosity of their ‘partners in the photographed situation.’

Osnat Ben Dov’s family immigrated from Iraq to Israel in 1948, and she was born in Jerusalem in 1968. Her grandfather was a binder of religious manuscripts, and the materials of his craft occasionally “visit” her photographs, leaving behind a delicate trace of longing and memory.