- Description Installation
on the ground
Wall installation, plastic beads melted together, size:175 x 420 cm
Woman with two boys on the ground, Gaza 2009
The wall installation On the Ground (2009) is a work created from thousands of fused plastic beads, often referred to as melting beads. Presented the first time at OSTRALE’09, an international exhibition of contemporary art in Dresden/GER. The piece transforms an everyday craft medium (for children) into a commentary on human fragility, collectivity, and perception.
Depicting three individuals lying side by side, heads pressed to the floor and hands covering their ears, the composition recalls the hear no evil motif while evoking themes of trauma, isolation, and solidarity. The pixelated aesthetic of the beadwork mimics low-resolution digital imagery, questioning the fidelity of visual representation in an age increasingly defined by screens and mediated experience. This intentional blurring invites viewers to consider both the limits of perception and the emotional distance inherent in modern communication.
The original press photograph has been removed from its initial context, thereby escaping the short-lived attention span of media coverage and its immediate framing. In this shift, it transforms into an iconic image—one that reaches far beyond its original function. For me, this represents a kind of liberation of the image motif: temporally, contextually, and in terms of how it can be read and interpreted.
By choosing a medium associated with childhood play and applying it at monumental scale, the viewers are confronted with a dissonance between innocence and distress. The figures’ positions—prone, defensive, and intimate—suggest a moment of collective vulnerability, possibly in response to violence, catastrophe, or systemic oppression. Yet, the use of vivid color and the meticulous arrangement of individual beads also suggest care, patience, and the human need for connection.
On the Ground stands in a row with early 21st-century installation art that merges digital visual language with analogue, tactile materials. It reflects a deep engagement with the politics of representation, as well as the emotional dimensions of contemporary existence. The work resonates as a poetic and urgent reminder of the human need to witness, protect, and endure—together.
