Roee Rosen
The Gaza War Tattoos (2024)
Commissioned work
Sketch, courtesy of the artist
Dates
20.9.2024–16.2.2025
Details
Photographs
Location
Neue Galerie Graz, Graz
Part of
Horror Patriae: Exhibition
Production specifics
Commissioned and produced by steirischer herbst ’24
With the kind support of Artis
Roee Rosen’s photo series depicts emulations of tattoos, painted onto bodies with makeup. They resemble commemorative tattoos, but the events they remember come from the current, devastating chapter in the violent conflict in Palestine and Israel.
Some are open-ended ciphers, figurations of notions such as “witnessing,” “evidence,” and “listening.” Others echo facets of the destruction meted out in Gaza (the bombing of hospitals and schools) and refer to concrete events and places in Arabic, Hebrew, and English.
Rosen’s tattoos reflect upon the contradictions of nationalist and military terminology and their peculiar poetics—adding up to a hybrid and fragmentary “skinscape” that documents Palestine and Israel’s descent into elemental violence.
Retrospective
Retrospective