AREYOUTHERE
2009-2014

A confusion between,
The north / Gotland island in Sweden
The south / Dead Sea in Israel
Salt and snow blend together...

THE DISCOVERY OF GOTLAND ISLAND

The artist embarks on a first journey to the North, in search of a place to retreat from the world. He travels to Sweden and discovers Gotland Island in September 2009. He spends a week in a wooden cabin without water or electricity, situated in the midst of a pine forest by the Baltic Sea (the least salty sea in the world, where he can bathe). These landscapes evoke the films of Bergman and Tarkovsky's "The Sacrifice." A love story begins between Abou and the island, of which he writes: "This island is a reproduction of my mental space on a geographic scale" and also "this atmosphere reminds me of the Dead Sea." He creates an initial series of analog photographs, described as "cartographic images of the locations." Back in Paris, he envisions the island covered in snow and plans to return to make a film, laying the foundations as follows: presence - disappearance - absence.

WINTER IN GOTLAND

During the winter of 2010, snow falls abundantly on the island, and he secures a residency there. Alone on a land completely covered in snow, without any human presence or footprints, he creates a second series of analog photographs capturing the same landscapes. He also shoots his first film, attempting to portray on screen the images taken during summer under the winter snowstorm.

SUMMER
INSIDE
WINTER

The following month, he travels to the Dead Sea, carrying with him the photographic prints of Gotland covered in snow. The connection is established: snow becomes salt, summer turns into winter, Gotland becomes the Dead Sea. The first two works begin with aerial tracking shots leading to these two distant locations.

SUMMER IN GOTLAND

WINTER
INSIDE

SUMMER

LE MYSTERE DE LA MER DE SEL

THE LAST IMAGE OF GOTLAND

During the summer of 2014, Abou undertakes a final journey to Gotland to retrieve the large print that was burned. During the night (midnight sun), he captures this last photograph of the same landscape, now with the caravan gone. He then removes the burned image from its wooden frame, rolls it up, and brings it back to Israel.