10 Questions with Maya Smira

Maya Smira is a multidisciplinary artist using video, photography, dance, performance & installation. She has a BA in Arts and Humanities from The Open University (2012), a BFA in photography from Minshar Tel-Aviv, and an MFA from The San Francisco Art Institute (2014). In 2016 she received the Outset Award For The Video Greenhouse Artist, at Fresh Paint Art Fair Tel-Aviv. Maya exhibited numerous solo exhibitions in Israel and in Shanghai, and her work has been shown in museums, galleries & festivals around the world.

www.mayasmira.com | @maya.smira

ARTIST STATEMENT

Maya Smira applies photography, video, installation, and performance to explore global and interpersonal issues. She’s interested in land changes and geographic, social, and psychological processes. As a traveling artist, the physical space allows her to express new aspects of herself, while also talking about questions about society and the environment.

Maya’s photography and video works are partially staged, partly documenting the existing. Most of her videos relate to photography and are built as static frames with no camera movements. There is usually a minor happening in these frames, and instead of a narrative, she creates repetitive actions, movements, and gestures.

As a dancer and yoga teacher, Maya sometimes uses her own body to perform in front of the camera. Her definition of the geographical place passes through her body, and her character becomes active in the works, present in the physical space, in the landscape, and in the situation. In her projects ‘Dancing Stillness’ & ‘Balada’, she explores the world using ancient dance & culture. She uses circular movements originating in Indian and Arab folks, in order to represent different places and ideas, and interact with each place differently. Her character embodies how the personal situation integrates into global ideas.

In some works, she stages herself and others or orchestrates the landscape. These features are manifested in the project ‘Playground’ that was filmed in California. This series of looping videos create a conversation about popular culture and its relations with the earth by using simple gestures that manifest humorist ideas.

7 minutes in Nakanojo, video, 2020 © Maya Smira

In her practice, Maya likes staying in one place long enough to familiarize herself with her surroundings. She likes to explore and express her relations to the environment, the culture, and the people of a specific place. In her ongoing project ‘Intervention’, she follows massive construction sites across Israel both in video and photography. A part of her process includes mapping and creating portraiture of a place and its inhabitants. For example, ‘Present Perfect’ is an ongoing project that started in Los Angeles and proceeded in Tel-Aviv, New York, Reykjavik, and Shanghai. In this multiple channels video project, she explores femininity using video portraiture, creating 7 minutes video portraits of women her age, left alone in front of the camera.

Living in Israel, in the Middle East, challenges Maya to explore and represent issues of borders, security, and living under states of emergency. She sometimes explores themes of visible or hidden conflicts, the tension between beauty and destruction, and men and nature. For example, her collaboration video ‘Iran-Israel’ with an Iranian artist is a feminine manifestation of coexistence, which depicts how bodies interact with each other in a situation of dependence and conflict.

Maya likes combining multiple channels, monitors, and projections in her installations and incorporating technology and interactivity. She uses motion sensors, sounds, and lighting to create site-specific installations. Her interactive video ‘Borderline’ was shot on the border of Israel and Egypt, showing a planned explosion during the construction of the separation space. The explosion is activated by a motion sensor, every time the audience enters the space. It is important for her to give the viewer a multisensory experience when he enters the space.

INTERVIEW

You work with different mediums and disciplines. Tell us more about your background and how you developed into the artist you are today.

Born and raised in Haifa, up on the coast of the mediterranean sea, I was always fascinated by landscapes and seascapes. I spent long hours surrounded by mountains and sea, which perhaps explains why nature plays a major role and influence in my work until today.
Growing up in Israel, under a constant state of emergency, I was deeply affected by larger global and social issues and events. My family history includes immigration and living in conflict zones, and war. This has led me to develop artistic ways of expression and intrigued my interest in human behavior and the human experience, which also comes across in my work.
Since a very young age, I've been into photography, painting, sculpture, dance, and music. I received my first camera when I was around ten years old. It was a simple point & shoot pink film camera, and I loved it. I used to take photos of everything and everyone in my life, and make crafty albums.
I started with still photography and gradually became more and more interested in video and time-based media. When I was in high school, video cameras were rare in Israel, but my dad had one from America, so I used it for a while. I still have some tapes from those times, which I will use someday somehow for a project.
I always had a camera in my hand, using it as a way to be an observer while also being a part of the situation. Present and absent at the same time - watching everything and at the same time creating my own world of everlasting images.
In 2012, I obtained a BA in Arts and Humanities and a BFA in photography in Tel Aviv. In 2014 I received an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute at the New Genres department, and later I completed a teaching certificate at SMKB in Tel-Aviv. The academic environment has led me to be more aware of my artistic process and to put more attention into directing and choreographing my creations.

How would you define yourself as an artist nowadays? And how did your art evolve over the years?

I regard myself as an artist and creator, working multidisciplinary with visual tools such as photography, video, and installation, as well as with physical techniques of dance and performance. At times, I am a performer/dancer; other times, I work and orchestrate others.
My photography started as a way to document my surroundings, the places and the people I love, and the progress and changes in my life. Later it evolved into staging and creating images with more awareness and direction. It's a transition from intuitive work to a more calculated, thoughtful, research-based work. My work today still lays on the ground between staging and documenting the existing. It's always interesting to find the balance between emotion and thoughts, as between intuitive creativity and planned/framed ways of work.
Another evolution in my work has been the progress in my ambitions and interests, which also changed over the years. When I was younger, I was more into dealing with personal and social issues & conflicts, but later I had a realization that I could actually work on whatever I wanted, so I began dealing with subject matters which I love and care about, focusing on physical aspects, movement & culture. I'm interested in land changes and geographic, social, and psychological processes. As a traveling artist, the physical space allows me to express new aspects of myself, while also talking about questions about society and the environment.

In your statement, you say you use "photography, video, installation, and performance in order to explore global and interpersonal issues." How do you choose which medium works better for a certain project?

It's a very good question. When I start a project, I usually use both photography and video, collecting materials until I realize how it should be presented. Sometimes I can't even decide, and so some of my projects actually exist in several mediums and have been exhibited in different ways, such as video projections, installations & photography. Many of my installations are location-based and site-specific, so they usually turn out differently in every exhibition.
I do always think about the viewer's experience while visiting the exhibition space, so the medium is also affected by the actual space and the specific purpose of the project.
I often relate to the relationships between the different mediums, using them together to demonstrate how stillness can work alongside movement, or how a live performance can work alongside a video projection. So actually, these mediums are integrated and form their own conversations within my work.
Most of my videos relate to photography and are built as static frames, with no camera movements. There is usually a minor happening in these frames, and instead of a narrative, I create repetitive actions, poses, movements and gestures. They may seem like an ongoing photograph at first until you notice the time passing and the slight changes and evolution.
I am intrigued by how art and reality are represented in the various digital mediums, and explore the relationship between video and photography, with reference to the element of time and the experience of the viewer. I try to preserve and show a faithful representation of the processes I document, using a placement that empowers them in the exhibition space.

Luminaries, video installation, 2022 © Maya Smira

What are the main themes behind your work? Tell us about the messages you would like to convey to the viewers.

The dual relationship between man and nature, body and space, femininity, and environment, are among the main themes I'm interested in.
I try to Empower femininity, show figures integrated with nature, or create new spaces, realistic or imaginary. I wish to represent delicate power and strength using ancient ideas and life philosophies.
I like to explore new and unfamiliar landscapes, geo-political grounds, social and psychological views, changes & transformations. I tend to focus on daily life aspects and turn reality into Fictional fantastic alternative spaces.
I hope to make the viewers think and raise questions, using the tension between beauty, destruction, and construction.

What aspect of your work do you pay particular attention to?

In my work, it is important for me to give the viewer a multisensory experience when he enters my space. I want him to feel and think and keep a memory of the experience.
In my installations, I like to combine multiple channels, monitors, and projections and incorporate technology and interactivity. I use motion sensors, sounds, and lighting to create site-specific installations. For example, my award-winning project, 'Borderline,' is an interactive video that was shot on the border of Israel & Egypt, showing a planned explosion during the construction of the separation space. The explosion is activated by a motion sensor, every time a visitor enters the space, making the viewers a part of the installation. The project won the Ella King Tony Award in San Francisco (2014), was nominated for the LG Art of the Pixel award in New York (2014), and later received the Outset Award for best video at the Fresh Paint Art Fair in Tel-Aviv (2016).

Where do you find inspiration for your work, and what is your creative process like?

The majority of my inspiration stems from my traveling around the world and constant exploration of new places & cultures. A part of my process includes mapping and creating portraiture of a place and its inhabitants.
I like to stay in a place and get the time to explore it and express my relations to geography, the environment, the culture, and the people.
My work is also deeply involved in larger global and political issues and events. Being from Israel, one facet of my work is politically-driven, challenging issues of war, borders, and living under a constant state of emergency. Other works of mine are more experimental, abstract, and formal. It deals with philosophical questions about human nature, environment, and technology and challenges dominant concepts within the art-historical canon. Another of my interests is derived from my personal family history and how it reflects my national story. Often these different lines come across through humor, concept, or figurative resemblance.
Living in Israel, in the Middle East, challenges me to explore and represent issues of borders, security, and living under states of emergency. I sometimes explore themes of visible or hidden conflicts, the tension between beauty and destruction, and men and nature. For example, my collaboration video 'Iran-Israel' is a feminine manifestation of coexistence, depicting how bodies interact in a situation of dependence and conflict. The video shows two young females leaning onto each other, pushing and holding at the same time. One is from Iran and the other from Israel, nowadays enemy countries. The scene takes place in a deserted landscape in California, which is similar to both the Israeli & Iranian remote landscapes. The women use their bodies to create a simple shape of a triangle which they tend to keep stable even when their bodies start to exhaust and shake. The work manifests the interpersonal tension that is generated by the bodies, as well as the political situation.

You are also a dancer and yoga teacher. How do these disciplines influence your work as an artist? Could you talk about the importance of your body and movement in general for your work and daily life?

Working with my body is a routine of many years and a practice I do every day. Yoga is a ceremonial act that is deeply rooted in me. This and dancing are a language that is primordial and essential to my artistic vocabulary.
As a dancer and yoga teacher, I sometimes use my own body to perform in front of the camera. My definition of the geographical place passes through my own body, and my character becomes active in my works, present in the physical space, in the landscape, and in the situation. In my projects' Dancing Stillness' & 'Balada', I explore the world using ancient dance & culture. I use circular movements originating in Indian & Arab folks in order to represent different places and ideas, and interact with each place differently. Everywhere I go, I reflect on my understanding of the specific time and place, adopting different elements in each location & situation. I represent myself, but I also represent a state of mind of the ever-changing reality. My character can represent different places and ideas, and interact with each place in the world differently. I like how the personal situation integrates into global ideas.

We witnessed many changes in the art world and generally in our society in the past few years. Did you find any positive difference in the approach people have to art now?

I think art is more accessible now, thanks to new technologies coming out every day and prices getting more accessible. It's easier to create these days, especially when it comes to photography and video, which is a medium that literally changed the world. Social media has also been affected by it tremendously.
During Covid, a lot of people decided to invest more in the appearance of their homes, so more people have been showing interest in art and buying more work. Art used to belong to an exclusive community and nowadays has become everyone's commodity, appealing to many more groups of people around the world. With that said, I am not sure about the quality.

Are you working on any new projects right now? Any exciting exhibition or collaboration you would like to share with our readers?

These days I'm working on a new solo exhibition in Jaffa city. I'm working in a studio residency program of the municipal city of Jaffa & TLV, and my project relates to architecture around the old city. It's a city with thousands of years of history and culture, and monotheistic religions are very present in daily life there. I'm trying to express and relate to how architecture & culture come to be expressed in the city.
The exhibition will include photography and digital processing, video, and installation works, which express the uniqueness of Jaffa through combinations of new and old, a variety of textures and colors that decorate familiar places and add a festive touch to the urban aesthetics. The images are multiplied and recombined, producing new structures in a symmetrical, colorful, and futuristic space.

Finally, what are your plans for the future? What do you think (and hope) the future holds for us?

I have several new projects in process for the near future, and I have new residencies coming. I want to keep traveling and working & I want to work with some new materials and also go back to creating objects and 3D installations. As a French citizen, I would love to spend more time and work in Europe, and maybe start my Ph.D. there.In terms of humanity, I'm concerned about global warming and climate change, as well as the human threats in all shapes of dictators & conquistadors, but I also adopted optimism as a way of life, so I remain positive, always in search of beauty.

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