ORIT BEN-SHITRIT
Un-Title, 2009
Although it can be liberating to define ourselves (and by extension, our creative output) in opposition—what we are not as opposed to what we are—this often serves to reinforce the very ideologies (be they theoretical, religious, cultural, or aesthetic) we wish to eschew. As Orit Ben-Shitrit’s video Un-title (2009) reveals, sometimes destruction can actually be a means of emphasizing the power of the canon. Ben-Shitrit’s humorous and self-referential critique of how Art History is deeply entrenched in nationalist politics and monumentality is a shrewd and aggressive commentary, but it is also a constructive exercise by which the artist effectively locates herself.
– Mara Hoberman
