In Tal Shoshan's solo exhibition "Dreaming of Journeys", Shoshan chose to tell a story of a personal journey thorough a multi-disciplinary project which integrates videos and installations.

 

The story of the journey itself is being told in a video work which consists on 8 short chapters. In the video work the female narrator character is shown alongside two alternating characters wearing animal masks. The characters are holding a stone in their right hand and act as one another’s "shadow". They are simultaneously performing hand gestures as a sign language invented by Shoshan. This sign language is being performed as a grand choreography of signs expressed by shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, resembling deaf sign language. This entire language was derived from one leading sign which simulates a motion of carrying a rucksack on one’s back. Each chapter interjected by animation showing three-dimensional objects, mostly taken from the world of sewing and craft terminology such as needles, pins, and seam rippers. The animation is functioning as another set of "signs", enabling another level of interpretation to the journey; when the narrator is orally narrating while using the sign language, an object is entering the scene and performing opposite to the character, but separately from her.

 

The journey gives rise to the craft which allowed Shoshan to create the installation in a separate space in the gallery. The act of craft started with collecting the inner wheels of bicycles, cutting, washing and re- joining them using fabric knots. The craft, similarly to the journey Shoshan has experienced, took a long time, it was a Sisyphean task but at the same time rewarding; the craft allowed Shoshan to create the installation consisting of black objects which were conceived from the dream, and from the movement in nature. The craft has also conceived the cairns landmarks (Rujum in Arabic) which hang from the ceiling. The cairn's stones were made by Shoshan, using white paper with black stitches. Between those objects one can walk, camp, observe, rest, continue to walk and to find (or not as the case may be) the way.

 

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