CARMEL DOR

WRITTEN BY LIAM MAHER

Carmel Dor’s work explores queer temporalities, Israeli national identity, physical manifestations of anxiety and duress, cycles of failure and recovery, and the unsettling qualities of change. Utilizing non-traditional media like zines alongside traditional media of painting, sculpture, and drawing, Dor’s practice meditates on the liberation of embracing the unknown as a first step in radically transforming our lives. Their oeuvre could be described as a hopeful, even lyrical, journey into the void, the unknown, and the uncertain.

Clocks make regular appearances in Dor’s work. Clock (Backwards and Forwards), for example, consists of a single clock set against a mirror. The numbers on the clock have been painted backward so their reflection presents as forward. Neither the reflection nor the reflected are quite right: while the reflection of the clock has legible numbers, the hands appear to move backward. The reverse is true of the reflected clock: illegible numbers contrast with the hands moving forward. The struggle to align one’s self-perception to reality is embodied in this dissonance.

Dor’s zine Economy of the Droplet revisits this theme of reflection with its drawings of rearview mirrors. One couplet of drawings is labeled “driver side” and “passenger side,” with the former described as “agency & stress” and the latter as “passive & nostalgia.” With the drawings set on facing pages, the viewer rests between these opposing reflections, a reminder of how these mirrors reflect a single being living simultaneous truths.

Dor’s versatility shines in their more playful paintings like Milk & Honey (Judgment of Solomon), a duo of symmetrical vaginas rendered in bright, warm hues. The paintings purposely hang askew against each other, forming a third vertical slit between them. Milk & Honey demonstrates Dor’s ability to remain inventive and light-hearted when contemplating complex realities of the world

DOR’S PRACTICE MEDITATES ON THE LIBERATION OF EMBRACING THE UNKNOWN AS A FIRST STEP IN RADICALLY TRANSFORMING OUR LIVES.

(WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ASK A QUESTION?)

NOT YET TITLED