Physis-  Ayelet Carmi and Meirav Heiman

Physis follows two young women, artist-botanists, as they explore and document species at a botanical garden in Tel Aviv. Equipped with pens and aquarelles, they reproduce the plants on parchment paper from minimal range, cutting these to adorn themselves with the painted flora. Thus, abundantly decorated from head to toe, they proceed to an adjacent natural history museum, wandering among its storage rooms, corridors and display cabinets. Peering in with wonderment, they begin to blend in with their surroundings in a lush, baroque-like tableau that combines still life – skeletal, taxidermied – with the dreamy, petrified gaze of the living.

Shot on location in the Tel Aviv University’s botanical garden and natural history museum, the video is accompanied by two poems set to music by Yuval Shay-El, performed by voice artist Etty BenZaken: “Rose Pogonias” by Robert Lee Frost and “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer. Physis was created as part of “Whole World,” a series of videos initiated by the Modalius Ensemble, an ethnic-contemporary Israeli group performing on modern and period instruments. The short videos, created during the 2020 lockdown, address nature and ecology through music and multidisciplinary art.

Music by Yuval Shay-el

The piece was composed as part of  “Whole World” project of Modalius Ensemble:

Performers: Hila Harush, Hadar Dadon

Cinematography: David Rudoy

Still photography: Avi Levin, Dima Valershtein

Editing: Guy Nemesh

Costume design: Joanna Jones

Music by Yuval Shay-El:

Physis – On Flowers and Trees

Based on “Rose Pogonias” by Robert Frost and “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer 

Thank you to:

Dr. Revital Ben-David-Zaslow, Chief Collection Manager, National Nature Collections

Adi Katz Shapira, Head of Operations, Steinhardt Museum of Nature, Tel Aviv University

Sasha Katzenelson, Steinhardt Museum of Nature, Tel Aviv University

Alon Sepen, Director of the Steinhardt Museum of Nature, Tel Aviv University

Irin Nachmani, Content and Activity Manager, Tel Aviv University Botanical Garden – Gan Yehuda Naftali

Tal Levanony, Chief Curator.  the botanical garden of Tel Aviv University – Gan Yehuda Naftali

Yuval Bisno, Noga Paz, Galia Bar Or, Shahar Marcus, Nivi Alroy, Hila Amram, Elisha Abargel, Tav Perkis, Shirley Oren, Ayelet Hertswolf  Tali Tamir

The Yehuda Naftali Botanic Garden of Tel Aviv University

The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University