Israel’s 2000-year-old Beit Guvrin Caves are opening for the first time in 25 years, to host an exhibition of artist Ivo Bisignano’s work.
His Human Forms show features a series of wooden sculptures and line-drawn images of people and faces. The cave’s ancient limestone walls also serve as the canvas for a series of animations created by Bisignano, which include depictions of crows and references to pop art.
Photography courtesy of Xhibition
Photography courtesy of Xhibition
Photography courtesy of Xhibition
Photography courtesy of Xhibition
Photography courtesy of Xhibition
Photography courtesy of Xhibition
According to the artist, the caves create a ‘historic and archaeological context within a historical and archaic context’, turning the site into a museum. The network of 800 bell-shaped caves in Southern Israel’s Beit Guvrin-Maresha National Park shows evidence of ancient human hands in their shapes and grooves, as well as a set of painted burial rooms.
Bisignano’s Human Forms exhibition is located in the Southern Cave, mined as a marble quarry during the Byzantine and early Muslim periods. The cavernous space offers plenty of room for exhibition-goers to observe social distancing rules.
Human Forms is open until 1 November 2020.
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