Danielle Gottesman
Hamsa, Hamsa, Hamsa
Wood, carved HDU, battery-operated LED light
This sculpture project merges the traditional Hamsa – a protective hand-shaped symbol widely recognized in North Africa and the Middle East – with the public symbols of hands designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. For this project, structures resembling hand-sanitizer stands are dispersed within the museum. Placed and lit upon the structures are sculptural iterations of various instructional/cautionary public symbols (of hands washing or touching). Within the context of the Sassoon collection, these sculptures seek to echo the tradition of the age-old, protective Hamsa and to highlight the evolution of its historical significance and cultural associations.
Wood, carved HDU, battery-operated LED light
This sculpture project merges the traditional Hamsa – a protective hand-shaped symbol widely recognized in North Africa and the Middle East – with the public symbols of hands designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. For this project, structures resembling hand-sanitizer stands are dispersed within the museum. Placed and lit upon the structures are sculptural iterations of various instructional/cautionary public symbols (of hands washing or touching). Within the context of the Sassoon collection, these sculptures seek to echo the tradition of the age-old, protective Hamsa and to highlight the evolution of its historical significance and cultural associations.
DANIELLE GOTTESMAN (b. 1990, London) is a multi-disciplinary artist raised in Israel and France. Her work involves a dimensional translation method of manually carving out standardized symbols (pictorially derived from the physical world) back into tangible objects. Instead of offering coherence, her “translations” introduce further ambiguity. They serve to highlight the impermanence of meaning, and challenge conventional notions of representation.
danielle-gottesman.com︎︎︎
@daniellegottesman
danielle-gottesman.com︎︎︎
@daniellegottesman
