Jennifer Abessira, born in Paris in 1984, currently lives and works in Tel-Aviv. She graduated with a B.A. In General History and French Literature, and an M.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts – both at the Tel Aviv University. In 2015 she graduated at the MFA program of Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. Abessira’s professional career in fine art began to receive popular recognition when she was chosen for the ‘Rise Photographer’ in Dazed & Confused magazine, 2010. In the same year they chose her for the top ten best rising photographers of 2010. In 2011 she collaborated with Vivian Westwood on her project, 100 Days of Active Resistance.
Abessira has exhibited internationally in galleries such as: KK Outlet (London), Sommer (Tel Aviv), Triennale (Milano), Fresh Paint Art Fair (Tel Aviv). In 2012 her first zine was released by Pogo Books (Berlin), for her ongoing project, Elastique. In 2014 another zine with a selection of her works was published by Mooooon (Madrid). In 2014 her first solo show, We Live As We Dream – Alone, was exhibited in ArtStation Gallery, (Tel Aviv). In 2016 she spent 6 months residency in Paris at La Cité internationale des Arts. At the end of the residency she collaborated with The Impossible Project on her solo show La Tangente at Rue Charlot in the Marais. In 2017 she collaborated with The Network Railway of London for an installation on 72 bollards at the London Bridge Station.
ELASTIQUE PROJECT
“Elastique” attempts to create an order in our reality, which is ever more multifaceted. Within this multitude of images, the process of creation is the process of living. I produce images from my daily life; I have no studio, a fact that dictates a spontaneous approach towards the medium of image making.
Like the experience of Internet surfing, “Elastique” aims to encapsulate the aforementioned reality. Each diptych creates an association between two different images. The essence of Elastique is to constantly classify and arrange my life, which is dominated by an unstoppable flow of images. From a wider perspective, it can be perceived as an ongoing cultural archive.
The project started in 2011 as a blog and continues until now in a form of a hashtag in the artist’s main platform the Instagram. In today’s hyper-reality the constant flux of images and meanings generates a situation in which it is difficult to identify the source; in this multiplicity, the concept of truth, of authenticity, is lost. I embrace that multiplicity as my playground. The associations I make could originate only from the Internet, a chaotic field that allows me to create new forms of image making.
