Born in 1970, lives and works in Tel Aviv
On the Way Back, 2012, video, 6:00 min.

Elyasaf Kowner’s work deals with one of the central fears and experiences of childhood – those of getting lost. Kowner constructs the work alphabetically. Alphabet is a system that introduces the child into language. On the one hand, it enables and teaches him or her to orientate in the world. Yet, on the other hand, by giving names to things, it establishes a gap between the thing or experience and their representation – the word, the language. Kowner’s work reflects this ambivalence regarding language: the young girl gropes her way both in the physical space and in the linguistic domains. Language helps her put in order her thoughts and sort them according to patterns, but at the same time also restricts and blocks these very thoughts.