The baudoin lebon gallery is pleased to present Body Clocks by artist Ronit Porat, in collaboration with Anne Maniglier, from Thursday October 26th to Saturday December 2nd 2023.
Trained as a photographer, Ronit Porat's work from the last decade has shifted towards historical research focused on interwar Germany, focusing on the collection, processing, and juxtaposition of images from various sources to create poetic collages and wall installations. Through documents (postcards, magazines, maps, slides, etc.) that she finds in various archives or online, she distills and recreates possible narratives interlinked cryptically to her autobiography. Contemplating the heritage of the photographs she employs, Porat questions the photographic medium and the various creative approaches it continues to present in our time. The artist's preferred period is that of the Weimar Republic in Berlin (1919-1933). This period, rich in societal upheavals, provided the backdrop of her stories. This is also the time of the emergence of the photographic studio and advertising photography, where the human body took on an entirely different role in society. This period resonates with her personal experiences as well as with the history of the kibbutz where she was born.
This tumultuous German society is revealed through the collages, between dreams and realities, challenging the interpretative sovereignty of archives and historical facts. Her collages span from minor interventions to distinct cut-and-paste methods, reinforced by a non-linear installation enhanced by her handwritten textual adjuncts sometimes implanted in the display. While referencing the Dadaist traditions of collage, Ronit Porat expands the direct dialectic by submerging the sources and contexts she leaves open to interpretation. She thus highlights the role that photography plays in shaping personal and collective memory and knowledge.
Body Clocks is the artist's first exhibition in France. It coincides with the release of her book Hunting in Time, published by Sternthal, which compiles the artist's major series from the last decade.
In collaboration with Anne Maniglier
Special thanks to Tal Yahas
