Rosa Ben Arie reflects on her experience of immigrating from Uruguay to Israel in her twenties, delving into the feelings of loss and yearning that accompany displacement. This longing is for the “simple things,” as captured in the song: (1)

“A person parts from small things unknowingly,
Just as trees shed their leaves in autumn and remain bare.
In the end, sorrow is the death of simple things,
The absence of which causes heartache.”

Researcher Pauline Boss(2) differentiates between two types of loss: one, a concrete or final loss, such as the death of a loved one. This type of loss is easily recognized and accompanied by farewell rituals like funerals and mourning periods, which allow for processing grief and sorrow. The second type is “ambiguous loss”, lacking a clear-cut end or boundary, such as the experience of immigration. The emotional process of parting and reconciliation in the case of “ambiguous loss” is more complex

The landscapes of Uruguay, old photographs, memories, and objects from her parents’ home serve as sources of inspiration for Ben Arie. Her starting point is concrete, but the works in the exhibition convey both sensory and mental memories. Ben Arie has developed a language based on a synthesis of everyday materials—simple, inexpensive, and readily available, such as adhesives, salt, baking soda, pigments, sand, fabrics, silk paper, and cardboard. There is a parallel between her artistic practices and her previous work as a biologist in a laboratory.

The central work in the exhibition is an installation made of cardboard units, which simultaneously resemble floor tiles and the topography of geological layers. Alongside the installation, on a shelf, are fragile tools made of raw clay. The motif of fragments and decay also appears in the pieces of cardboard affixed to the wall, resembling remnants of stones, as well as in the airy presence of tulle fabrics, which, with their illusory texture, resemble embroidered lace.

Elements of interior and exterior blur in these works. The landscape paintings, as soft color stains, create an abstract, almost dreamlike scene. In the core installation, a video work is projected between the tiles, revealing flowers floating on the river. The river’s currents move the flowers in a repetitive motion. This motion symbolizes the journey backward and forward through time and continents, as if the immigrant is destined to remain forever divided. Ben Arie digs into the tiles, searching for roots, and from the depths, the present emerges, embodied in the flowers.

(1) “Simples Las Cosas”, music by César Isella, lyrics by Chavela Vargas and Armando Tejada Gómez. Performed by Chavela Vargas and others, including the famous Argentine singer Mercedes Sosa. Free translation by Rosa Ben Aryeh.
(2) Pauline Boss is an American psychologist and a leading researcher in the field of loss and trauma. She developed the concept of “Ambiguous Loss” (from an article by Prof. Yehav: Review of the book “Losses That Are Not Death” by Prof. Nehami Baum, published on the “Betipu.net” website).