Maya Zack

Israeli artist Maya Zack delves into the murky territory between historical events, their translation into memory, and how memories are recounted orally and represented visually. Influenced both by the geopolitical situation of her homeland and her own family history and heritage, she forms narratives that are personal, but attest to broader cultural situations. Inspired in part by visiting her grandmother’s former home in present-day Slovakia, one of her earliest films, Mother Economy (2007), portrays a woman’s methodical documentation of dead loved ones’ belongings, and then shows her baking a traditional kugel, emphasizing the various ways in which traditions and memories are passed down and preserved. Though best known for her films, installations, and work in 3D digital technologies, Zack also creates drawings that are conceived as integral accompaniments. In all of her works, the final aim is to expose the impossibility, though not futility, of fully depicting reality.

Zack’s work has been exhibited at institutions including the Jewish Museum in New York, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the Jewish Museum in Berlin, and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.