Dor Guez: 100 steps to the Mediterranean

At the center of 100 Steps to the Mediterranean are four videos portraying one family, the Monayers - the artist’s Christian Arab grandparents and their children and grandchildren. In these videos, Guez’s camera remains primarily static, placing the viewer in close physical proximity to each family member as they dwell on their multifaceted identities, argue with one another, and consider, then reconsider, their places in Israeli society and the Arab world. The editing and sequencing of the videos, in which critical events and conversations often occur off-camera, manifest the family’s ambivalent societal status, generational differences, and individual fortitude. The exhibition encourages rumination on the politics of place as well. The family videos are bookended by renderings of four sites in Israel: the ruins of the pre-1948 Palestinian city of al-Lydd, now Lod; the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George in Lod; a nearby Israeli national park, Ben Shemen Forest; and the Mediterranean shore in Jaffa. These places are layered with meaning for the Monayers, and the artist’s subtly different visual approaches connect them to broader national and ethnic discourses. --