Iris Oliver, Multidisciplinary artist, graduate of the Department of Jewelry at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Jerusalem.

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A vintage collection of aluminum utensils, found and brought to the studio, connected naturally with the aluminium that is the principal material of her art work.

Through the past year, Iris went through a deep personal process of 'returning home', home as a metaphor for essence, stability and centralization.

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In a physical and mental process, she shed layers and emotional issues, and this awakened her need and desire to delve deeper and continue the process through her work in the studio. The aluminium utensils, made several decades ago, scratched and scarred, in some cases crumpled beyond recognition, some broken and with rusty metal handles, carry a whole life within them. They constituted the raw material, and they can hold a new life, thus outlining the road for the rest of the journey.

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In 'healing' work, addressing the old and out of it creating the new, the utensils changed their purpose. They were affected, changed, but their identity was maintained. Thus, a new category of utensils was created, undermining what we know about the concept of old, broken, battered and rusty.

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Iris emerges from the utensils but at the same time delves inwards and meticulously creates the outline of shapes and lines that are inscribed in the utensils and accumulate emotional intensity.

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In the collection, created between the years 2019-2020, techniques from different and varied worlds were combined such as hammering, sawing, embroidery, weaving and threading, a combination of materials that are soft and hard, expensive and cheap, rusty wires and leaves of gold and silver.

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"The utensils are 'living utensils', just like me, with flaws and wrinkles, with a past, a present and a future. It is important to me that people see the human aspect in them", says Iris.

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צילום: אלה פאוסט