Making a Scene

Tiranit Barzilay

The human arrangements created by Tiranit Barzilay radiate a strong sense of purposelessness. Barzilay used empty Israeli apartments to stage groups of people dressed in nothing but underwear, who perform a series of both intimate and collective actions. Within the exposed domestic space, which is invaded by a voyeuristic gaze, this series of private gestures is transformed into a public performance, and serves as a metaphor for the blurring of boundaries between these two spheres in Israeli society. 

Although the figures in these photographs do not resemble one another and are not identically dressed, they seem to become duplicates of one another, and to lose their individual characteristics. The contrast between the living bodies - which pulsate beneath the apparently uniform group appearance - and their disciplined behavior exposes a sense of emptiness and a lack

of meaning.

Born in Israel, 1967; lives and works in Tel Aviv