Places: Yael Bronner Rubin– South Africa/Israel/Hong Kong

Contemporary artist Yael Bronner Rubin was born in South Africa, brought up in Israel, and is now based in Hong Kong. Her highly diverse experiences in these places form an integral part of her work.

Yael’s work reinforces the idea of the ‘Places’ column so perfectly. Places, as we mentioned in our first interview, explores the idea of how the different places we experience – and the distances we cover in between – often play a giant role in our creativity. Yael moved from South Africa to Israel when she was about six years old. She finished most of her primary education in Israel (Hamidrasha School of Art in Beit Berl) before moving to Hong Kong to join Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) to do an MFA in photography in 2011. Her work often consists of vivid photographic collages to convey the diversity of her “transcultural life”.

Through a long Facebook voice conversation, we spoke to Yael about her relationships with the places she has been a part of and how they influence her creative work and process. Read on:

How does your association with these different places shape your work?

I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. I lived there till I was six years old and then moved to Israel. We have a Jewish background so there has been a lot of immigration in our pasts. My parents were born in South Africa but none of their parents were. My grandparents were originally from Europe but they left during the Second World War to move to New York, and then eventually to South Africa. My grandmother was born in Israel and she has had seven generations there before her. So we have a long history there (in Israel), but there has been a lot of movement in my life. After Israel, I moved to Hong Kong to do my Masters in photography when I was 29, and I have been here since the last four and a half years now.

Moving to different places shapes my work a lot. I think it is not only where you are that affects your work but also the movement between places. Once you move to a new place, you have another point of view as you are always comparing. Moving also exposes you to more cultures. You see alternatives and different ways of thinking.

Yael Bronner Rubin

Tell me a bit about your early years in Israel.

My first body of work ‘Reflections’, which I created for my final graduation exhibition, is actually based on my early years in Israel. One of the feelings I had after moving to Israel was that I was different and my family was different from most people in Israel. Our house was so flamboyant, colorful, and over the top. I also dressed very colorfully. Initially, I had this feeling that maybe it was a bad thing. Israeli society was founded on socialist roots and is a lot more about modesty, and we were a contrast to that.

So in ‘Reflections’ I wanted to take this to an extreme and make our house look more like a museum or a dollhouse or a theatre. I posed in these photos, along with my mother, at my home with dramatic lighting to get this stage-like effect. Every photo has a feeling of opulence, and they are also very feminine. I think a lot of times when you work on something personal there are a lot of layers in the work. And in this work, there is one layer that deals with what’s feminine – how things look, how they are presented, what is beautiful, what’s pretty, etc.

Moving to different places shapes my work a lot. I think it is not only where you are that affects your work but also the movement between places. Once you move to a new place, you have another point of view as you are always comparing. Moving also exposes you to more cultures. You see alternatives and different ways of thinking.

Reflections

Over the years, how has your personal relationship with Israel evolved?

The truth is that when I left for Hong Kong, I wasn’t really sure who I was. If you asked me that time whether I was an Israeli or South African, I probably wouldn’t have a clear answer. When I moved to Hong Kong, I finally started seeing myself completely as an Israeli. I am very influenced by South Africa but I think I am more Israeli. I went to the army in Israel. I studied in Israel all my life. My Hebrew was always better than my English. So I felt a big connection to Israel in every way.

However, when I moved to Hong Kong, I also realized that a lot of my friends in Israel weren’t necessarily Israelis. I did have a connection with Israel, but I also had a connection with people from other parts of the world. I also realized that some of my mannerisms were not Israeli. The way I interacted with people was different from other Israelis. Also, I had strong roots in South Africa and in Jewish community overseas. So that entire feeling of different cultures kind of awoke me. Moving to Hong Kong reminded me how complex identity can be.

Where does the ritual aspect in your work come from?

I have this relationship with religion and rituals, which is something I worked on in Hong Kong. I thought about rituals, spirituality and culture a lot after I came here. For example, there are some specific rituals in Jewish culture when you live in Israel. If you live away from Israel, then you have to follow different rituals. Moving away, I thought about both religious rituals and creative rituals I have. I deal with this in my work ‘Daily Offerings’. For this project, I would take a picture of still life every single day at more or less the same time, and I committed to that. I started to photograph my body in a specific place – which was under a spotlight in my kitchen. There were usually pictures of my hands which I would dress up differently. Slowly, it evolved into a ritual.

Moving to different places also made me realize that a lot of rituals and temples around the world have something in common. There is something that transcends different cultures. Rituals have their own language. I do have some references in that particular work to India as well. I backpacked to India in 2007 for three months, and visited places like Delhi, Manali, Ladakh, Kashmir, Dharamsala, Amritsar, Rishikesh, Udaipur, Jaipur, Agra and Varanasi. A lot of these places had temples and rituals.

I do yoga as well which also has its own ritual and rhythm. So some of the hand gestures in that work were inspired by various mudras. I am also inspired by African body painting which is usually done in a ceremonial sitting. You paint to transform yourself into something else, and your body becomes your way to transform.

I was also inspired by many Chinese temples in Hong Kong which have a rhythm of sorts and which provide a very different pace of life. Hong Kong can a very baffling city at times, but once you go inside one of these temples, you enter a different reality. Time slows down. And that is the experience I wanted to create in a gallery, so people could slow down and actually take in the experience.

There is something that transcends different cultures. Rituals have their own language.

Daily Offering

What made you choose Hong Kong for your Masters?

A lot of people from Israel go either to Europe or the US for their higher education. I always wanted to do something different. I had visited Hong Kong about ten years ago (from now). I was travelling with my sister at that time and I told her that ‘I don’t know if it is ever going to happen, but I want to live here’. It seemed different but somehow very accessible. I felt like it was a place that could accept immigrants, or rather accept someone like me.

Then years later, when I was working as a photographer’s assistant, I had a chat with his other assistant who told me about her experiences at SCAD in the US. Whatever she described sounded amazing, but I told her that I wasn’t keen on going to the US. Then she told me that SCAD was actually opening a branch in Hong Kong. It was a strange coincidence, and I finally landed up in SCAD, Hong Kong.

How was the experience at SCAD?

It was a new program and we had a mix of locals and foreigners. We all had very personal relationships with our teachers. I really enjoyed my studies there. Despite of being in Hong Kong, we had advantages of an American school. There was a lot of emphasis on professionalism, which I think is very important. It helps you learn how to present yourself to people, present your portfolio, how to talk to galleries, etc.

A lot of people who attended that school were from different cultures and identities. Those issues occupy us more and more today because the world has become much smaller. You are exposed to so many different things. The fact that we are talking on Facebook right now is what’s happening in the world today. The cultures are mixing and identities are forming in a new way.

When you finally moved to Hong Kong, was your earlier feeling about being able to belong there justified?

What I like about Hong Kong is the fact that they don’t expect you to fit in. They don’t expect you to conform to their culture. So you belong and don’t belong at the same time.

Apart from that, like everything in life, there is a lot of contrast here too. The people here are very nice. They are somewhat peaceful and polite. When you are waiting for a bus on the road, for example, there would be a proper line. There is a sense of order here, especially if you compare it to Israel and even India which are both so chaotic. On the other hand though, it has all the pressures that come with being in a big city. There is a lot of competitiveness. So there always has to be a balancing act, which happens in most big cities. There are moments when you relax and connect with nature and creativity, and then there are times when you push yourself towards a goal.

Foreign Body

The fact that we are talking on Facebook right now is what’s happening in the world today. The cultures are mixing and identities are forming in a new way.

How is the contemporary arts scene in Hong Kong right now?

There are quite a few art scenes happening here. There is this international arts scene that’s established and well financed. A lot of big galleries have come to Hong Kong which show internationally acclaimed artists’ works, and that’s amazing. One of my favorite artists, Yinka Shonibare, exhibited in Hong Kong last year. His work was made especially for the show and related well to Hong Kong. However, there are some big galleries that bring famous artists but put on mediocre shows, hoping to sell the work just on the basis of the name.

There is a vibrant local arts scene too. There are quite a few interesting art spaces and galleries outside of central Hong Kong – in industrial areas – that show much edgier work and emerging artists. As a young artist, I find these places more interesting and contemporary.

You obviously travel a lot. How do you specifically draw inspirations from your travels for your work?

You see a lot of different things when you travel and you tend to question a lot about things you don’t understand. I don’t take a lot of pictures of the sights when I travel. I do collect objects though. I find these little things everywhere, and take a few pictures of them when I can.

Then the second part of travel is how you bring in what you see into your life. Sometimes, it’s the music you find when you travel. Sometimes, it’s just a memory. And sometimes, it is a kind of a wave of something that influences you, and that wave of inspiration could also come after a long time. So I might have an object that I have kept with me for a long time and then I end up using it in my work after a few years.

Of course, all the places you visit influence you in some way. I still have memories from India, for example. I loved the music there so much. I still have a connection to that, even when I am not a part of it. Travelling to a place is kind of like meeting a friend. Once you have met someone, you have met them. You might keep in touch with them later, or you might just see them on Facebook, or you might not hear from them ever again. But there will always be a connection.

Plumage

Travelling to a place is kind of like meeting a friend. Once you have met someone, you have met them. You might keep in touch with them later, or you might just see them on Facebook, or you might not hear from them ever again. But there will always be a connection.

What was the last place you traveled to?

It actually depends on how you define that. At the moment, I am in Israel visiting my family. And just a few days ago, we went to South Africa. I visit South Africa very rarely. The last time I visited was eight years ago. Most of my family has left the country. I have only two relatives living there today.

However, when I was there this time, everything still felt very familiar. Something that was sleeping inside me woke up. It’s like you hear a language that you don’t even understand, but it still feels familiar. The food feels familiar. So that trip brought back different parts of me that I had forgotten about. It is like an awakening. You wake up to yourself.