Ein Raziel/ Performance in the Landscape July 2022, 2022
Performance: Vered Sivan and Ariane Littman
“Ein Raziel” is a joint healing work and purification rite in a wounded landscape taking place at sunrise in the forest of Ramat Raziel located in the Judean hills where thousands of acres were destroyed by a wild fire in the summer of 2021. When we performed a year later, the landscape still bared a dark wound of charred trees and black earth.
Following several months of dialogue and exploration to find the right location, we decided to perform near the natural well-spring of ‘Ein Raziel’ because of the striking contrast between living water and the surrounding desolated landscape. The spring of life showed its promise of hope visible in the beautiful green fig tree growing beside the source.
During this joint project, we each performed different yet complementary actions.
Using a metallic brush I remove the charred outer bark from the tree overhanging the source. This medical procedure is used for burn wound healing when damaged and dead tissues are first removed with a metallic brush before dressing the wounds with special gauze or before skin graft. This action painfully resonated with the procedure my daughter endured more then a decade ago.
Meanwhile Vered rakes the soil full of ashes and dirt near a twisted carbonized tree before choosing sooty and twisted branches to built a small hut. After the debridement of the tree, standing in the cold water of the well-spring I delicately unfold the thin layers of the gauzes, immersing them in the purifying water. Vered then picks them up and covers the charred branches of the hut.
Photos by Gal Mosenson
The performance was filmed by:
Cinematographer: Amit Chachamov,
Aerial photographer: Aviv Kegel
Sound recorder: Ishai Ilan