klara landrat
Klara Landrat was born in Warsaw, in 1977. She attended California College of Arts for photography, graduated in painting from Hunter College City University of New York. Since then she traveled extensively all over the world, working on variety of her artistic projects and creative work that oscillates between fashion, beauty and fine art photography as well as painting. She is interested in human interior-repeatedly shown in a way that provokes unambiguous associations- and man’s entanglement in reality on cultural and religious level. Her ambient photographs are the reminiscences of bygone times and refer directly to Jewish culture and tradition, existing in Poland until World War II. On the other hand, the human emotions and intuitive forms of the subconscious is what her paintings and works on paper are truly comprised of. Varying from the intuitive perception of the representation of carnal and uncontrollable aspects of human condition, her work evokes an exploration of an infinite interpretation of the unperceivable universe. She is currently working on series of photographs representing life of Bedouins and ethnic minorities in the Middle East. Her work has been shown in New York and also in museums in Europe. Klara Landrat lives between New York, Los Angeles and Tel Aviv.
about the “Tallit Project”
The “Tallit project” was conceived as a continuous photographic documentation of places of the artist’s origin. The “Tallit”(from Hebrew) is worn almost exclusively during prayer and represents a “shelter” for the soul or “a curtain that stretches out to the heavens” and plays an integral part in Jewish religious practice. While other Jewish garments might be treated more casually, the Tallit holds a special personal significance and is generally used for many years or even for a lifetime and is never discarded. The Tallit is treated with great respect, as though it possesses a mantle of holiness.
Having grown up in a Poland stripped almost entirely of its Jewish community, the artist went on a series of trips to revisit her homeland, rediscover her past and to commune with her ancestors. In this tribute to the artist’s lost family, “Tallit project” grew out of the search for life and the recognition of its tangible, unforgettable qualities.
All the photographs are limited edition, printed on thick photographic fiber paper and then multi bleached and toned. Due to this complex process, each print is an original image and holds its own unique non-repeatable appearance.
