This photo taken on Nov. 12, 2022 shows barbed wire chandeliers encrusted with the Dead Sea salt in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. (Xinhua/Wang Zhuolun)
by Xinhua writer Wang Zhuolun
JERUSALEM, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- Wedding dresses, tutus, fishing nets, and barbed wire chandeliers ... a collection of daily object-turned artworks are now glistering brightly in the crust of naturally-formed salt crystals, telling the story of the lowest water body on earth -- the Dead Sea.
Dubbed "the Burning Sea," an eight-month-long exhibition held through June 2023 in the Israel Museum theming Israeli artist Sigalit Landau, the creator of these salt-encrusted pieces after letting them soak in the Dead Sea's water for long periods of time.
Featuring the salt-encrusted sculpture along with other art pieces, the exhibition aims to "address fragile dualities: life and death, injury and healing, destruction and hope," said the exhibition's webpage.
Visitors look at a tutu encrusted with the Dead Sea salt in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, on Nov. 12, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Zhuolun)
The Dead Sea is famous for being one of the saltiest water bodies on earth, attracting people from across the world to come and lay cozily on the water, posing for their own souvenir shot. But Landau has dared to work the other way around -- to fully bathe daily objects deep in the water for a long time.
Over the years, Landau has learned from practices about how different materials would react with the water, and transform into salt-encrusted art pieces. "Salt crystals are formed under the water of the Dead Sea. Time and climate are the main parameters bringing about these formations," she said.
"No other artist has put so much effort and creativity into the threatened yet inspirational site that is the Dead Sea," which allowed visitors to experience both "the magnificence and the devastation" of this endangered lake, Amitai Mendelsohn, the exhibition's curator was quoted as saying by the Israeli i24NEWS.
This photo taken on Nov. 12, 2022 shows fishing nets encrusted with the Dead Sea salt in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. (Xinhua/Wang Zhuolun)
Growing up in northern Jerusalem near the Dead Sea, Landau has witnessed the ever-changing ecological landscape since childhood. "In those (early) years, the size of the Dead Sea was more than double what it is now," she said.
In the long years working around the Dead Sea, Landau said, she has to closely confront its deterioration. "Creating (an art) in the midst of an environmental disaster means creating in an ongoing condition of distress," she recalled.
"The crystallization of salt on barbed wire and fishing nets is also extremely deceptive. We are captivated by how much it looks like snow, like marble, like-shards-of glass, like diamonds," she noted.
Bordered by Israel, Jordan and the occupied West Bank, the Dead Sea depends heavily on inflows from the Jordan River in the north to maintain its water level. In the past decades, farming and mineral extraction in the area are believed to have pulled out more water than can be refilled by natural means, posing ecological threats to the ever-shrinking salt lake.
This photo taken on Nov. 12, 2022 shows stretchers encrusted with the Dead Sea salt in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.(Xinhua/Wang Zhuolun)
Statistics showed that the Dead Sea has been shrinking at an alarming pace, dropping by 1.1-1.2 meters each year, and is about half the size it was in 1976. As the water receded, a barren landscape of salt rock and numerous sinkholes appeared.
"The Dead Sea's place on the eco-political agenda is even lower than its topographic position," Landau said, and argued the evaporation ponds of the sea's southern basin are evidence of the exploitation of natural resources and what she called "corporate greed."
"The public knows about this tragedy. It is often exposed and reported by local and international media. And yet, despite the heightened awareness, very little is being done," she said. ■
