Gal Leshem

Akirot (Uprootings)

Gal Leshem

"Akirot (Uprootings)" is a personal account which lays out a complex set of identifications and dis-identifications with the homeland, beginning with childhood memories and ending with the act of departing from the country that was called home. The videos weave together footage shot in two locations in Israel with illustrations from books of local flora. At the centre of the work is an unspoken conflict between mother and daughter considering their Israeli identity. Using hermother, anational nature trail guide, Leshem exploresthe Israeli relation to the land as a site through which identity is constructed. Through the performative and symbolic gesture of uprooting,the work deals with the personal pain of rejecting one’s motherland. As the term “motherland” suggests, land and mother are never distinguished from one another. The political objection to the land is at the same time a separation from the mother.