Madrid

Dor Guez | Between Wind and Water

06.05.–04.06.2022

Guez’s work plays on the tension between what one inherits—a language, a name, a place of origin—and what one reinvents over time. Stories are told and retold, and traces of the past are rediscovered, shedding light on little-known facts and familial chapters. 

One recent work, Letters from the Greater Maghreb, reflects a pivotal moment in Guez’s family history when his grandparents—who both worked in theater—escaped from labour camps in Nazi-occupied Tunisia and later in 1951, immigrated to Israel. The journey was arduous as key personal documents were damaged by water during the trip. One of these was a manuscript written by his grandfather in Judeo-Tunisian Arabic, using what looks like a mix of Hebrew and Arabic characters. Taking the fragile pages of the surviving document and creating enlarged scans of the single sheets and sections, Guez intensifies themes of blurring and loss in the resultant prints, bringing the viewer closer to and farther away from the meaning of the original words. 

Installation Views

  • Dor Guez, Between Wind and Water, exhibition view at carlier | gebauer, Madrid, 2022
    Photo: Roberto Herrero

  • Dor Guez, Between Wind and Water, exhibition view at carlier | gebauer, Madrid, 2022
    Photo: Roberto Herrero

  • Dor Guez, Between Wind and Water, exhibition view at carlier | gebauer, Madrid, 2022
    Photo: Roberto Herrero

  • Dor Guez, Between Wind and Water, exhibition view at carlier | gebauer, Madrid, 2022
    Photo: Roberto Herrero

  • Dor Guez, Between Wind and Water, exhibition view at carlier | gebauer, Madrid, 2022
    Photo: Roberto Herrero

  • Dor Guez, Between Wind and Water, exhibition view at carlier | gebauer, Madrid, 2022
    Photo: Roberto Herrero

  • Dor Guez, Between Wind and Water, exhibition view at carlier | gebauer, Madrid, 2022 Photo: Roberto Herrero

  • Image: Dor Guez, Letters from the Greater Maghreb, archival inkjet print, 2021