Friday 3 September – Saturday 23 October 2021

For the occasion of this new gallery season, Galerie Fontana is pleased to present an exquisite selection of unique photographs covered with salt by Ilanit Illouz (b. 1977, France) at our main address at Lauriergracht 11. At our Garage location, at Lauriergracht 15, Fontana is proud to host the nomadic exhibition of Claudy Jongstra’s Woven Skin. Since 2016,

Ilanit Illouz has been fascinated by the geologic territory that borders Palestine and Israel, in particular the Judean Desert and the Dead Sea. Changes arise in the water volume because of drought and politics. Physically, the territory is unstable and riddled with craters and sink holes that have grown fossilized by salt. For Illouz, the salt evokes the paradox of the territory because as a material, it can burn, heal, preserve, erode, and take on the form of a solid or liquid. Onsite, she engages in repetitive methods of surveying, investigating, and collecting natural materials from the landscape. In the studio, Illouz works with the found materials, like salt to grow crystals on the images, rendering the photographs as unique works, resistant to reproduction. Her work is also currently shown at Les Rencontres d’Arles.

For the past three years, Claudy Jongstra’s Woven Skin, has travelled the world and various eco summits as a nomadic artwork that held the manifestation of Jongstra’s concerns in the field of climate change, biodiversity, social injustice, and the disappearance of artisan skills. Woven Skin embodies a powerful art installation and offers a nomadic platform where different generations and people from diverse backgrounds can gather. The work invites dialogue such as: who calls whom to order, when will justice be done, who does and who does not do justice to humankind and the earth?