Shai Zakai

Creative Corrections Eco-Cultural ServantShai Zakai is an Eco artist and activist. For over 15 years she has collected examples of flora (be it leaves seeds, and grasses) from all over the world, where deforestation, plant removal, destruction by agriculture or urban development have taken place. She has also made it a daily ritual to take photographs of woodland areas local to her, using unusual angles and moment specific UN-tampered with compositions as a running dialogue. Together she has created a library consisting of boxes with differing pictures and plant life inside. This library is a huge memory log which co insides with a particular place or event, provoking emotions and events which have taken place. For example; a bomb was dropped in Israel, and the authorities said "nothing happened" meaning there were no human fatalities. But the damage caused to the local ecology was devastating, plants, forests, birds, animals and insects were all destroyed. Shai took it upon herself to document the disastrous not to be forgotten and to bring to the attention of the audience that when "nothing happened," something had very much definitely happened!

"Forest tunes"

Shai also works with the belief of art working across disciplines, bringing voids together. She works with other artists, scientists, politicians, and the public, including her gardener who she promoted the use of natural methods of land clearance rather than the use of pesticides, as soil has a 7 year memory and would cause long term detrimental effects

"Cement Dress" a piece derived from an Israeli song "we will cloth you in cement" a song talking about the urban development of Israel. The piece was also worked and edited as a photograph where nature was put back into the images.

Concrete Creek 1999-2002

Concrete creek was an on going piece. The developers of Beit Shemesh had been dumping waste concrete at the end of the day into the creek rather than disposing of it properly. It was an enormous amount which led to the stream setting solid! Shai first documented the creek with pictures which were first used as evidence against the building firm as evidence in court and then to fuel art work. Her first notion was to wade in and fix the problem manually, but after deliberation decided to aid nature in its own repair of the area, humans had already caused enough problems. There were many pieces of art that went along side the clean up including performance, sculpture and photographic. This addresses her idea of crossing disciplines and bringing the work and disaster to public attention.

Concrete flags put in place as obstacles for work vehicles

"The Last Super Table" a permanent reminder of what happened at concrete creek

Shai Zakai has her Forest Tunes exhibition on at Exter library CCANW until 22nd november 09

Inroduction to research lecture by Nancy Roth

"Every time we describe an event, add up a column of figures or take a photograph, we create a model."

Maker

Why are you doing Fine Art? Challenge your practice, what has been there all the time? Is there a running theme or component through your practice? Then on the other side what has changed radically?

How as the maker do you know when your work is finished? Is it set by a deadline or are you the type of artist who just knows when you are done, where the cut off point is,or is your work ever finished? For myself i feel my work is never finished, I'm never quite satisfied and i feel I only complete components of a bigger piece. In this case my practice.

As an artist you should assess your work, and if there is one thing you can take away from the piece what would it be? What difference has my medium made in the world? Where did the medium come from and what is its relevance in the world today?

What do artists do?

Express themselves

Reflect us (the audience) to ourselves

Research perception

Amuse, annoy, frighten

We take a problem, find a means of addressing it and find a possible resolution.