Shelf Life

Ronit Shany's parents never threw out a single thing, hoarding objects in a manner that may be defined as obsessive collecting. Due to their frugality, no new purchase led to the disposal of its previous incarnations, even if they were old or broken; as her father used to say, "who knows how they might be of use." Their standard two bedroom apartment, at 23 Moriah Avenue in Haifa, thus gradually became an impressive cache of quotidian objects, which reflect the historical transformation of local material culture: chairs and stools, decorative pillows, reproductions of paintings, needlepoint images, alarm clocks, transistor radios, pajamas, powder compacts, handkerchiefs, hats, trays and decorated plates. Only following her parents' death, could the artist notice the numerous "inventories" accumulated in the apartment. Her photographs, which are devoid of pathos, reveal the intimate reality of the home in which she grew up, while carefully disconnecting it from a particular time and place. Like an industrious archival clerk, she documented one object after another, using a typological strategy and a frontal gaze devoid of emotion that clearly communicates the visual information concerning every object. The photographs are arranged into groups according to their type. In addition to their social and familial associations, their accumulation forms a touching, poetic narrative about longing for a lost past.