Correction appended.

Chartering a new era for the Rose Art Museum since its reopening, Israeli artist Dor Guez's exhibit, titled "100 Steps to the Mediterranean," has been dazzling viewers since its premiere this September. The "100 Steps" exhibit is a particular milestone for the Rose and its artistic revival because it is the first exhibit from outside of the museum's collection since 2009 when the Board of Trustees voted to sell the museum's art collection, a decision that was subsequently reversed. Guez returned to Brandeis on the evening of Oct. 30 to host a special event in which students, alumni, faculty, viewers and affiliates of the Rose were welcomed to participate in a conversation with Guez about his work. The collaborative conversation took place in the Lois Foster wing of the Rose-the final room of the exhibition. It was led by the Rose's Director of Academic Programs Dabney Hailey, who cocurated the exhibit alongside Prof. Gannit Ankori (FA), chair of Israeli art, who was unable to come to the Oct. 30 talk. Under dramatically dimmed lights, the tightly packed audience listened carefully to Guez's responses to Hailey's questions and was also able to contribute some questions of their own.

Hailey began the conversation with a gesture to the wall behind her and Guez, upon which hung a series of photograph images, called "Scanograms 1," from the exhibit. The images are beautiful-black and white, depicting families and wedding scenes, with a signature sharpness to them. Guez explained that the images are part of an online archive project that he started in order to collect images and documents from his family and others close to them, and that the original photographs were captured in Israel and Palestine.
He stressed that all the images as we now see them have been manipulated, and explained what seems like a tedious tri-part scanning, filtering and retouching process that he used in order to bring out elements within them. He looked back at the images as he spoke and shared that the final product shows "some kind of narrative that I've built."

The most recognizable image from the "Scanograms 1" series is also used as the cover for the catalogue and the exhibit posters-a stunning picture of the artist's grandmother. Guez found the original photograph under his grandparents' bed in 2009, and salvaged and preserved it not only because of its endearing significance to his family history, but also to Palestinian history.

The photograph shows his grandmother on her wedding day, but what viewers would not know upon first sight is that her wedding was one of the first performed in Palestine after war tore apart the nation in the 1948. "'48 wasn't a singular event. The result of the 1948 war is an ongoing process in destroying Palestinian history," said Guez. "She's a great storyteller, my grandmother. You go with her [throughout the exhibit]." The exhibit has a great focus on family, and includes many images of Guez's family and pictures of a church where they stayed as Palestine began to recover from the war. The essence of his grandmother and her experiences appears most widely throughout the exhibit. It is through her eyes that viewers start to understand the story that Guez aims to tell.

Beyond understanding that at the surface, the exhibit is meant to present the meaning of the intersection between Christian belief, Palestinian heritage and Israeli residence. Guez's talk with the audience gave the sense that there is much more going on behind the artwork than the image at the surface. He stresses the importance of not just looking at pieces, but knowing their historical and artistic context: "The saying 'a picture is worth a thousand words'... I'm not sure that that's true. If you see the picture of the forest and you don't know the title, you just see a pretty photograph."

The controversial political and religious nature of Guez's work has recently rippled through the press. In early October, an article in The New York Times claimed that Brandeisians did not react vehemently enough to Guez's message. This piece provoked responses from current Justice editors Phil Gallagher '14 and Fiona Lockyer '13, claiming that the issue is not so simple. Lockyer's article was even referenced by a piece published in the Boston Globe, cataloguing the paper trail. With such a range of responses, it can be easy to overlook Guez's own intentions for the exhibit. He told the audience that "I'm focusing on one community, one story... but it's really about minorities and majorities in general. About every nation, about these issues that every country has." Guez maintained that he is not trying to pick or endorse a political side through his art. "I'm writing a chapter in the story, I'm not writing the history of Palestine. It's not about a political agenda ... People manipulate it to a political agenda, but that's not why I do it. The story is what's important." Guez argues that he cannot control what the press or audiences say about his work, and maintains a commendable artistic integrity by doing so.

"The Rose has been like a family to me for the past year," says Guez. With a fresh perspective, I am looking forward to seeing the exhibit once again, and, this time, putting aside political curiosities to simply take in the story. I hope that Brandeis will be encouraged to do the same.  

Correction: The article misstated the condition of the Rose Art Museum in 2009.  The artwork in the museum was voted to be sold by the Board of Trustees, but none of the artwork was sold and the decision was subsequently reversed.  The museum itself was not "closed for sale" as the article originally stated.