Lokaal 01, Antwerpen 2004

installation view
performance
painting & details
letters

Laylah with Gil & Moti

A year after our public wedding project (The Gil & Moti Wedding Project performance and installation, 2001) we, Gil & Moti duo artists born and raised in Israel, have decided to fall in love with an Arab guy as a contemporary form of political marriage. The idea originates in the common belief that love can overcome all obstacles and bridges between the hostile people. It is long term project, which generates major changes in our family life.
The project at the moment consists of three chapters: Letters to Laylah, Dating Gil & Moti and Laylah the Creature Beyond Dreams (our first love story with a Lebanese).

Letters to Laylah

The work began by creating an imaginary lover named Laylah to whom we have written and painted letters. The love letters mixing private memories with national experiences in text and image, referring to prejudices pre conceptions, fears and the segregation of Israelis from Arabs.
The series consists of 13 letters. Each letter is painted on several panels. All are Aquarell; pencil and Acrylic painted on plywood (each panel 102x73cm). The panels of each letter are bounded together in a folded case made out of wood and fabric. In the exhibition space we display each on a specially made shelf.
Next to the painted letters the installation includes a triple bed, which is constructed in a performance during the exhibition period with a collection of old furniture.
The oil landscapes and the video in the installation depicting Grand Canaria are references for a free- zone, a place detached from politics, were everything is possible, where sky is the limit.