Yamim Noraim (Fearful Days): A Trilogy, A Video Presentation with Artist talk and Reception

Dafna Shalom’s video trilogy title “Yamim Noraim (Fearful Days),” was made as a “time-specific” piece referring to the introspective and prayerful Hebrew month of Elul that ushers in the High Holy Days of Rosh Ha-Shana and Yom Kippur. Here the artist, a Jew of Yemeni/Moroccan lineage, utilizes as her backdrop prayers intoned in the dirge-like minor, atonal, Arabic-inflected Hebrew specific to Mizrahi Jews.  The vocals are carefully integrated into a visual vocabulary that combine body sculptures, painting and crafted camera movements.