Ayelet Zohar
I am a visual culture researcher, specializing in Japanese photography and video art.
Recently, I was elected as the President of the Japan Art History Forum (JAHF), for the 2023-2026 term. I thank JAHF members who have elected me, and looking forward to making JAHF more global, and the presence of Japanese art research and our forum on different platforms in the global context.
I wrote my MA thesis (summa cum laude) on "Morimura Yasumasa and the Question of Transcultural Mimicry" (Tel Aviv University, 2000). My PhD research was taken at the University of London (UCL/ Slade School of Fine Art), under the supervision of Professor Norman Bryson, titled: "Strategies of Camouflage: Invisibility, Schizoanalysis and Multifocality in Contemporary Visual Art" (University of London, 2007). Then, spent two years as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University in California (2007-9), followed by a second Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC (2011).
I started my research into Meiji photography with a research grant from Japan Foundation at Hokkaido University (2012), followed by research periods at Waseda University in Tokyo (2017 and 2018). I received the Israeli Science Foundation (ISF) Grant to work on War Memory in Japanese Video Art (2016-2021), a project that comes to an end these days with the upcoming publication of my book "Parallax Memory, Performative Recollection: War Memory in Contemporary Japanese Video Art" (forthcoming).
I was a Visiting Associate Professor at Yale University (2018), teaching a special course on Meiji Photography and its links to traditional painting and printing methods. My current research examines representations of war memory in contemporary Japanese photography, relating to questions of trauma, memory and the unconscious, and their presence in the photographic practice.
At Tel Aviv University, I regularly teach "An Introduction to Global Arts," which analyses the relationship between Asian and European art practices and their mutual relations. I teach courses on Japanese photography, from the Meiji era to contemporary approaches, with special attention to links between contemporary practices and past experimentation. I also teach courses on modern and contemporary arts and visual culture in Japan, and in the expanded field of Asian photography. Theoretically, I am interested in Postcolonial and Decolonial discourses, which I often use in my teachings.
My list of publications is well presented on my ORCID profile, including my monograph "The Curious Case of the Camel in Modern Japan" (Brill 2022); An edited volume on "Meiji Visual Culture" (Routledge, 2021); an edited special issue of "Review of Japanese Culture and Society", Vol. 31 (2019), dedicated to Heisei Photography (1989-2019); Edited volume/ exhibition catalogue "Beyond Hiroshima: The Return of the Repressed" (2015), and "PostGender: Gender, Sexuality and Performativity in Contemporary Japanese Culture"(2009), with numerous articles concerning photography and video art in Japan, mainly on themes regarding performativity, indexicality, war memory, gender and sexuality. Forthcoming is also a special volume on contemporary Japanese Photography (under review).
Beyond my academic practice, I am an active artist, educated as a painter (BFA, Midrasha Art School, Tel Aviv; MFA, Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing; PhD, Slade School of Fine Art, London), and work as a transdisciplinary artist. You can visit my art blog here: https://ayeletzohar.blogspot.co.il/
I have a two-decade experience as an Independent Curator, which is a territory well suited for my visual and intellectual skills - see the relevant sections on my acdemia.edu profile for a list of catalogues and art-related texts.
I lived in Tokyo, Beijing, London, Palo Alto before I returned to Israel by the end of 2009, followed by an appointment as a Lecturer, and a promotion to Senior Lecturer at the Art History Dept., Tel Aviv University. As part of my political activism, I engage in research of contemporary Palestinian-Israeli (citizens) artists and published on the topic as well.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Contemporary Art, Critical Theory, Photography Theory, Visual Culture, Visual Studies, Cultural Theory, Visual Arts, Postcolonial Critique, Decoloniality, Psychoanalysis, Art History, Gender Studies, Camouflage & Art, Japanese Studies, Japanese Language and Culture, Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze, Curatorial Practices, and more...
AFFILIATIONS
Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, Norwich, UK
Waseda University, Tokyo
Yale University, History of Art, Visiting Associate Professor
Tel Aviv University, Art History, Faculty Member
Supervisors: Prof. Norman Bryson, Prof. John Aiken, Prof. Penny Florence, Prof. Irit Rogoff, Prof. Mark Nash, and Prof. Hannan Hever
Phone: +972-9208349
Address: Rm. 110, Mexico Bldg. Art History Dept. The Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of the Arts, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801 Israel
Recently, I was elected as the President of the Japan Art History Forum (JAHF), for the 2023-2026 term. I thank JAHF members who have elected me, and looking forward to making JAHF more global, and the presence of Japanese art research and our forum on different platforms in the global context.
I wrote my MA thesis (summa cum laude) on "Morimura Yasumasa and the Question of Transcultural Mimicry" (Tel Aviv University, 2000). My PhD research was taken at the University of London (UCL/ Slade School of Fine Art), under the supervision of Professor Norman Bryson, titled: "Strategies of Camouflage: Invisibility, Schizoanalysis and Multifocality in Contemporary Visual Art" (University of London, 2007). Then, spent two years as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University in California (2007-9), followed by a second Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC (2011).
I started my research into Meiji photography with a research grant from Japan Foundation at Hokkaido University (2012), followed by research periods at Waseda University in Tokyo (2017 and 2018). I received the Israeli Science Foundation (ISF) Grant to work on War Memory in Japanese Video Art (2016-2021), a project that comes to an end these days with the upcoming publication of my book "Parallax Memory, Performative Recollection: War Memory in Contemporary Japanese Video Art" (forthcoming).
I was a Visiting Associate Professor at Yale University (2018), teaching a special course on Meiji Photography and its links to traditional painting and printing methods. My current research examines representations of war memory in contemporary Japanese photography, relating to questions of trauma, memory and the unconscious, and their presence in the photographic practice.
At Tel Aviv University, I regularly teach "An Introduction to Global Arts," which analyses the relationship between Asian and European art practices and their mutual relations. I teach courses on Japanese photography, from the Meiji era to contemporary approaches, with special attention to links between contemporary practices and past experimentation. I also teach courses on modern and contemporary arts and visual culture in Japan, and in the expanded field of Asian photography. Theoretically, I am interested in Postcolonial and Decolonial discourses, which I often use in my teachings.
My list of publications is well presented on my ORCID profile, including my monograph "The Curious Case of the Camel in Modern Japan" (Brill 2022); An edited volume on "Meiji Visual Culture" (Routledge, 2021); an edited special issue of "Review of Japanese Culture and Society", Vol. 31 (2019), dedicated to Heisei Photography (1989-2019); Edited volume/ exhibition catalogue "Beyond Hiroshima: The Return of the Repressed" (2015), and "PostGender: Gender, Sexuality and Performativity in Contemporary Japanese Culture"(2009), with numerous articles concerning photography and video art in Japan, mainly on themes regarding performativity, indexicality, war memory, gender and sexuality. Forthcoming is also a special volume on contemporary Japanese Photography (under review).
Beyond my academic practice, I am an active artist, educated as a painter (BFA, Midrasha Art School, Tel Aviv; MFA, Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing; PhD, Slade School of Fine Art, London), and work as a transdisciplinary artist. You can visit my art blog here: https://ayeletzohar.blogspot.co.il/
I have a two-decade experience as an Independent Curator, which is a territory well suited for my visual and intellectual skills - see the relevant sections on my acdemia.edu profile for a list of catalogues and art-related texts.
I lived in Tokyo, Beijing, London, Palo Alto before I returned to Israel by the end of 2009, followed by an appointment as a Lecturer, and a promotion to Senior Lecturer at the Art History Dept., Tel Aviv University. As part of my political activism, I engage in research of contemporary Palestinian-Israeli (citizens) artists and published on the topic as well.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Contemporary Art, Critical Theory, Photography Theory, Visual Culture, Visual Studies, Cultural Theory, Visual Arts, Postcolonial Critique, Decoloniality, Psychoanalysis, Art History, Gender Studies, Camouflage & Art, Japanese Studies, Japanese Language and Culture, Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze, Curatorial Practices, and more...
AFFILIATIONS
Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, Norwich, UK
Waseda University, Tokyo
Yale University, History of Art, Visiting Associate Professor
Tel Aviv University, Art History, Faculty Member
Supervisors: Prof. Norman Bryson, Prof. John Aiken, Prof. Penny Florence, Prof. Irit Rogoff, Prof. Mark Nash, and Prof. Hannan Hever
Phone: +972-9208349
Address: Rm. 110, Mexico Bldg. Art History Dept. The Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of the Arts, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801 Israel
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Articles (Peer Reviewed Journals) by Ayelet Zohar
Quetioning why did Morimura create such a small number of Asian figures, and the possible meaning of this absence in relation to Japanese Orientalism and racism, within the context of Japan's position in the global context and its relations with Asia. Using Iwabuchi's concept of "Trans-Asia", and Stefan Tanaka's writings in "Japan's Orient", I position Morimura's work in this context. I argue that Morimura's numerous representations of Western icons is part of Japan’s dedication to following Western values, as part of the long process, from Meiji Restoration onwards, in which through the association with Western values, Japan alienates Asia.
initial process of Japan’s passage into
modernity through Westernization, and its
identification as a modern nation-state. As part
of the process of identifying with European
discourses, of altering its position in Asia, and
of adopting Western models and values, Japan
changed its political, social and cultural
dispositions towards industrialization and
capitalism, as well as towards nationalism and
colonialism, cultural and artistic creation.
Over the course of modernization, and of
adapting various Western discourses on science
and culture, Japan accepted several new
approaches, especially those setting Europe
apart and above from the rest of the world. As a
result, Japan saw the rise of racial discourses,
which eventually contributed to the state’s
imperial expansion into Asia.
Japan’s path to modernity was a twofold
movement: on one hand, it was an internal
struggle for association with Western
civilizations and adoption of their modernity.
On the other hand, Japan sought to
conceptually distance itself from Asia, only to
return a few decades later as a conquering and
imperial power. In the Japanese imagination,
European cultures served as a perfect model
for its own reformation, yet, at the same time,
Japan found itself on a pendulum movement
between Europe and Asia. Japan distanced
itself from what it perceived as a primitive,
underdeveloped region and its cultures, while
simultaneously seeking to include China and
India in its vision of a unified Orient, a
stronghold of Asian cultures positioned against
the Occident. Ultimately, Japan’s self-definition
came about through the notion of Otherness:
the concept of “Japan” was defined primarily
against the background of European
civilization, but also, against a range of other
cultures, including China and the United
States, as well as its own immediate past of
Tokugawa Japan.
In the first stage, the primary task was to set
Japanese culture apart, and essentialize “Asia”
as its Other. The desire to associate Japan with
the West then led to a sense of Japan’s
“inferiority” (especially in terms of
technological and scientific achievements), at
the same time that Japanese leaders adopted a
Western position in claiming “superiority” over
Asia. The double movement of association (with
Europe) and disassociation (from Asia)
produced a new subtext to the binary
opposition between the advanced and
sophisticated, versus the primitive and simpleminded. This double movement, much like the
binary logic that drove Western colonialism,
laid the foundations for racial ideologies and
imperial practices in Hokkaidō and Ryūkyū,
Korea and Taiwan, Manchuria and China, as
well as the South-Pacific Islands and Southeast
Asia.
The articles in this issue look at the roots of the
discourses on race in the Meiji era, in tandem
with the Japanese empire’s development in the
latter part of the 19th Century. These concepts
of race and empire lay at the center of Japan’s
racist ideologies and imperialist fantasies, and
now serve as the focus of our discussions.
geometric, Modernist-type painting, gradually moving into his contemporary chaotic and saturated style of expression. I draw parallels between Nubani’s personal and psychological condition and the political events that affected him. I refer to his state in relation to the discourse of mimicry and camouflage in nature, comparing his position to that of the invisible presences in the
background in a perfect camouflage, referring to Roger Caillois’ interpretations. I look at his diagnosed psychiatric state of schizophrenia as the materialization of the meaning of being a Palestinian-Israeli in a life of fragmentation and rejection, by referring to Bhabha and Shammas. I relate to Deleuze and Guattari’s notions of schizophrenia as a cultural rebellion
against the moderating mechanisms of cultural/national identification. I demonstrate how Nubani’s work and speech undermine the modalities of mainstream Israeli society, acting like a cultural insurgent, terrorizing Zionist axioms. While analysing Nubani’s iconography I identify several tropes,
images and icons that serve as signifiers of his personal crisis and artistic development. I link Nubani’s eyes/ocelli images to Lacan’s discussion of ‘symbolic castration’ as the core of his personal becoming part of Israeli society and his collapse, the in-between desire to assimilate in the early stages of his
life, and his current desire to fully live his life as a Palestinian. The text moves between his images and images from other sources that open Nubani’s world into the discourses of Western painting, schizophrenia, high Modernism, the
postcolonial condition and so forth. The text is fragmented into eight pieces,following the schizophrenic break-up of Nubani’s personal state and his painted work. I read his work as a destabilizing agent, and identify visual references drawn from the wider context of art history, and specifically referring
to masterpieces of the Israeli art canon.
Articles in Books by Ayelet Zohar
Quetioning why did Morimura create such a small number of Asian figures, and the possible meaning of this absence in relation to Japanese Orientalism and racism, within the context of Japan's position in the global context and its relations with Asia. Using Iwabuchi's concept of "Trans-Asia", and Stefan Tanaka's writings in "Japan's Orient", I position Morimura's work in this context. I argue that Morimura's numerous representations of Western icons is part of Japan’s dedication to following Western values, as part of the long process, from Meiji Restoration onwards, in which through the association with Western values, Japan alienates Asia.
initial process of Japan’s passage into
modernity through Westernization, and its
identification as a modern nation-state. As part
of the process of identifying with European
discourses, of altering its position in Asia, and
of adopting Western models and values, Japan
changed its political, social and cultural
dispositions towards industrialization and
capitalism, as well as towards nationalism and
colonialism, cultural and artistic creation.
Over the course of modernization, and of
adapting various Western discourses on science
and culture, Japan accepted several new
approaches, especially those setting Europe
apart and above from the rest of the world. As a
result, Japan saw the rise of racial discourses,
which eventually contributed to the state’s
imperial expansion into Asia.
Japan’s path to modernity was a twofold
movement: on one hand, it was an internal
struggle for association with Western
civilizations and adoption of their modernity.
On the other hand, Japan sought to
conceptually distance itself from Asia, only to
return a few decades later as a conquering and
imperial power. In the Japanese imagination,
European cultures served as a perfect model
for its own reformation, yet, at the same time,
Japan found itself on a pendulum movement
between Europe and Asia. Japan distanced
itself from what it perceived as a primitive,
underdeveloped region and its cultures, while
simultaneously seeking to include China and
India in its vision of a unified Orient, a
stronghold of Asian cultures positioned against
the Occident. Ultimately, Japan’s self-definition
came about through the notion of Otherness:
the concept of “Japan” was defined primarily
against the background of European
civilization, but also, against a range of other
cultures, including China and the United
States, as well as its own immediate past of
Tokugawa Japan.
In the first stage, the primary task was to set
Japanese culture apart, and essentialize “Asia”
as its Other. The desire to associate Japan with
the West then led to a sense of Japan’s
“inferiority” (especially in terms of
technological and scientific achievements), at
the same time that Japanese leaders adopted a
Western position in claiming “superiority” over
Asia. The double movement of association (with
Europe) and disassociation (from Asia)
produced a new subtext to the binary
opposition between the advanced and
sophisticated, versus the primitive and simpleminded. This double movement, much like the
binary logic that drove Western colonialism,
laid the foundations for racial ideologies and
imperial practices in Hokkaidō and Ryūkyū,
Korea and Taiwan, Manchuria and China, as
well as the South-Pacific Islands and Southeast
Asia.
The articles in this issue look at the roots of the
discourses on race in the Meiji era, in tandem
with the Japanese empire’s development in the
latter part of the 19th Century. These concepts
of race and empire lay at the center of Japan’s
racist ideologies and imperialist fantasies, and
now serve as the focus of our discussions.
geometric, Modernist-type painting, gradually moving into his contemporary chaotic and saturated style of expression. I draw parallels between Nubani’s personal and psychological condition and the political events that affected him. I refer to his state in relation to the discourse of mimicry and camouflage in nature, comparing his position to that of the invisible presences in the
background in a perfect camouflage, referring to Roger Caillois’ interpretations. I look at his diagnosed psychiatric state of schizophrenia as the materialization of the meaning of being a Palestinian-Israeli in a life of fragmentation and rejection, by referring to Bhabha and Shammas. I relate to Deleuze and Guattari’s notions of schizophrenia as a cultural rebellion
against the moderating mechanisms of cultural/national identification. I demonstrate how Nubani’s work and speech undermine the modalities of mainstream Israeli society, acting like a cultural insurgent, terrorizing Zionist axioms. While analysing Nubani’s iconography I identify several tropes,
images and icons that serve as signifiers of his personal crisis and artistic development. I link Nubani’s eyes/ocelli images to Lacan’s discussion of ‘symbolic castration’ as the core of his personal becoming part of Israeli society and his collapse, the in-between desire to assimilate in the early stages of his
life, and his current desire to fully live his life as a Palestinian. The text moves between his images and images from other sources that open Nubani’s world into the discourses of Western painting, schizophrenia, high Modernism, the
postcolonial condition and so forth. The text is fragmented into eight pieces,following the schizophrenic break-up of Nubani’s personal state and his painted work. I read his work as a destabilizing agent, and identify visual references drawn from the wider context of art history, and specifically referring
to masterpieces of the Israeli art canon.
The authors explore Japan’s curiosity about the West from the Iwakura Mission to the United States and Europe beginning in 1873; the encounter of Japanese and white populations through immigration to the United States; the developing imagination of Europe, America, Africa and Asia through geography textbooks; Japan’s reconsideration of its own borders and relations with the neighboring peoples – including subjugation of the Ainu in Hokkaidō, and the educational system of the Ryūkyūs/Okinawa, emphasizing the subpordination and assimilation of local cultures . Uniquely, authors of this issue come from diverse backgrounds and varied fields of research, creating a colorful matrix of points of views, scholarship and new ideas.
I would like to acknowledge Mark Selden's insightful comments and close reading of all articles. Mark has kindly offered us his wise remarks to make the articles brightly accomplish clear and powerful statements. I would also like to acknowledge the tremendous help I received from Mark E. Caprio in editing this issue. Mark's perspective, discerning remarks and advice served as a lighthouse in the process, guiding me through the long route of bringing these articles to their best argument and discussion.
Through this important moment in Japanese history, contributors reflect on Japan’s transcultural artistic imagination vis-a-vis the discernment, negotiation, assimilation, and assemblage of diverse aesthetic concepts and visual pursuits. The collected chapters show how new cultural notions were partially modified and integrated to become the artistic methods of modern Japan, based on the hybridization of major ideologies, visualities, technologies, productions, formulations, and modes of representation. The book presents case studies of creative transformation demonstrating how new concepts and methods were perceived and altered to match views and theories prevalent in Meiji Japan, and by what means different practitioners negotiated between their existing skills and the knowledge generated from incoming ideas to create innovative modes of practice and representation that reflected the specificity of modern Japanese artistic circumstances.
The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, Japanese studies, Asian studies, and Japanese history, as well as those who use approaches and methods related to globalization, cross-cultural studies, transcultural exchange, and interdisciplinary studies.
ISBN 978-965-7160-41-1
Rennais’ Hiroshima mon amour. The contributors include leading researchers and curators such as Jennifer Robertson, Michiko Kasahara, Tamaki Saito, Maki Isaka, Bracha Ettinger and others. Book will be available by the end of 2009
ISBN 1-4438-0990-X
Faculty respondent: Patricia Simmons, Professor of the History of Art and Women's Studies
一つ精神、二つ十九世紀
תרגום: רותם אילון, אילת זהר, נורית טמיר
עריכה מדעית: רן צוויגנברג
Call for proposals for an international conference on
The Heisei Era in Retrospect: Major Trends in Post-Industrial and Post-Consumer Japan
The University of Haifa and Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem 11–13 June 2017
The Biennial Conference of the Israeli Association of Japanese Studies will be held at the University of Haifa and the Bezalel Academy of Arts, Jerusalem on 11–13 June 2017. In this conference we wish to reflect on the Heisei era as this era approaches its thirtieth anniversary and may even draw to a close soon. Focusing on this relatively short but eventful era, this conference aims at creating an outline for a retrospective on the historical, social, economic, political and cultural developments in Heisei Japan. We especially welcome interdisciplinary studies of the creative industries within their social or economic contexts.