Religious beliefs and orthodoxy, which have systematically been reconditioned as a unifying force, are time and again at the root of our failing. Ideologies and policies often tragically hurt people of opposing religious beliefs.

Reductionism, rationality and Modernism’s quest for progress are crucial outcomes of Enlightenment thought that have left people still searching for an object toward which to direct their beliefs. Paradoxically, even the decision to reject ideologies is an ideology in itself. Faced with these choices, how can one believe in anything?

One of the oldest cities in the world, Jerusalem has always been infused with fracture and duplicity, which carry on to this day in the city’s fabric and leaders. As reverent home to three of the world’s major religions, Jerusalem embodies Foucault’s idea of a heterotopia — an impossible space where parallel contradictory layers exist.{1} The fractured photo, Intoxicating sovereignty (jerusalem Fall afternoon) depicts Jerusalem in

the time of the Second Temple (66 CE) – when revolt against the occupying Romans led to its eventual destruction four years later. The Janus figure in the top left corner of the image is the Roman god of beginnings and endings, a protector able to see both past and future. Ironically, the protectors of the city were to be its destroyers.

I’ve been exploring Hofstadter’s idea of the self-referential loop{2} using reflective surfaces and mirrors in my constructs. It is often unclear whether an image is the thing itself or its reflection. In the latest photos I avoid the traditional horizon, and the compositions become purposefully disorienting. An image can be thought of as a belief system in itself, and as such, it is a structure infused with doubt.

{1} Azoulay Ariella, Death’s Showcase: The Power of Image in Contemporary Democracy, The MIT press, 2003, p. 181