Hagar Cygler, 16 January – 5 February 2017

WHOLE

During her residency at POLIN Museum, Hagar Cygler will collect objects and images from local flea markets, searching for items that are waiting to be appreciated and remembered anew. Being of Polish and Israeli roots, the connection to the Jewish-Polish history is embedded in her. Having realized that she knew more on the collective memory than on her family’s legacy, Hagar wants to re-evaluate the history by telling it through personal narratives and vernacular items, using them to reflect on how they shape personal and collective memory in the present. 

The outcome of her work was an artistic installation comprising recreated items and photos. One of the objects produced during her stay in Warsaw was a booklet with the text written by the artist – a memoir of sorts, a collection of reminiscences, account of Hagar’s last meetings with her father as well as photographs found at flea markets and reproduced specially for this occasion. The booklet’s form is free, a juxtaposing of images-posters. 

The meeting with Hagar Cygler took place on 5 February at POLIN Museum. In conversation with Dr Tamara Sztyma, a curator of exhibitions at the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, the artist talked about her grappling with the memory and about her expeditions to Warsaw flea markets. 

About the Artist:

Hagar is an Israeli artist currently living in Los Angeles, California. She graduated from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in 2006 and is about to graduate from the MFA Photo and Media Program at the California Institute of the Arts.

In 2014, Hagar published an art book titled Hana and in 2012 participated in the ‘Greatmore Studio’ residency in Cape Town, South Africa. She exhibited her works in many group shows including the 7th  Ceramics Biennale at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv (2013), The International Photography Festival, Israel (2014) and the 4th Biennale for Drawing in Israel, Artists House, Jerusalem (2010).

In her artistic work, photography is fundamental as a starting point, however her artistic oeuvre is not photographic per se, but rather it combines a variety of techniques of organization, craft, video and the use of objects trouvés in a multimedia work of art.

The activity “Open Museum – Education in Action” is carried out within the project “Jewish Cultural Heritage”, component “Faces of Diversity”. Supported from the Norway and EEA Grants by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

www.eeagrants.org, www.norwaygrants.org
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