In her work “Remembering is a labor, not a luxury,” Hagar Cygler breaks down family memories and mythology mixed with the national water project. Her grandfather was a surveying engineer for ‘Tahal’ )Israel’s water planning corporation( as well as an amateur photographer who left behind numerous photographs and albums of family and work. The work photographs document labor and its results: measurements and calculations concerning changing soil and water composition to benefit us for years to come. The ground measurements are intended to identify the places from which it is possible to access groundwater and bring it to the surface. The albums and photographs disintegrate on the studio table, mixing with one another and taking on a new meaning as they float on the surface of the water. Like the reality that they depict and the memories they create, the pictures will not survive over time; the water holds them up and at the same time breaks them down. The photographs in their new form, floating and temporary, are examined and reevaluated and along with the stories and memories embedded within them.
The CDA's archives are operating with the support of the Ostrovsky Family Fund and Artis
