Private courtyard (Cour privée)

ln contrast with the concrete of Arad, the verdant garden in this photograph depicting an ordinary moment, that of watering a lawn, is a reminder of an essential part of the history of the construction of Israel.
After the Second World War, the new inhabitants of Israel transformed the landscape into a land reminiscent of the Europe they had left. This process included the recreation of a European vision of nature, with lawns and flowers planted in the arid lands of the Middle East. By sustaining a form of nature that is ill adapted toits environment, the action photographed by Sharon Ya'ari attempts to maintain the memory of a lost past.