Sukkat Babatha
Sukkat Babatha is inspired by the life of Babatha, a woman from the southern end of the Dead Sea. She fled from the Romans in 134 C.E. not only with documents but with personal items as well: keys, bowls, knives, pans, wool, a ‘jewelry’ box, a mirror… objects of life, hope and future. These were discovered in a cave in Nahal Hever in 1961.
All this occurred against the stunning landscape and singular agricultural conditions of the Dead Sea. Through experience of the landscape and investigation of the agricultural and natural history of the region today, I construct objects which revisit her place, her personal effects. I hope to construct for the viewer a sense of that place and historical moment. Sukkat Babatha was funded by a grant from the Hadassah Brandeis Research Institute.