Sharon Gershoni's photography exhibit features images that are created through an experimental process of manipulating a single photograph. The finished prints multiply the original image over 128 times, creating intricate patterns and depth. The works reference natural and architectural subjects, pulling the viewer in with their rich detail. They also reflect Gershoni's background in neuroscience, inviting viewers to perceive new shapes and meanings within the interlocking details. While complex visually, the works also carry emotion, with burned landscapes becoming elegies and colorful botanical images offering lush mandalas.

1. Sharon Gershoni: Photographs
The Open Lens Gallery
The Gershman Y
November 15, 2007-January 11, 2008
Sharon Gershoni’s photographic compositions begin with a single, carefully observed image. She
then undertakes an experimental process of turning, mirroring, dissecting, joining—building the
single image out upon itself to discover unexpected continuities. The finished prints, which may
have multiplied the original image 128 times or more, offer a dizzying array of flatness and depth,
figure and ground, in which patterns emerge and vibrate to the searching eye.
The works in this exhibit, referencing trees, fields of weeds, flowers and architecture, pull the
viewer in with a seductive, seemingly unending richness of detail. This is partly thanks to a special
process of color filming and processing that the artist developed in her native Israel, in response to
the austere colors and strong light of the landscape there. They are also informed by Gershoni’s
parallel career in neuroscience and visual perception; one is, in a sense, invited to participate in an
ongoing creation of new Gestalts, discovering faces, bodies, undulating lines in the buzz of
interlocking detail.
For all this, the work also carries a great
range of emotion. The etched branches of an
ancient olive tree, burned to make way for a
new settlement, or the field of burned
weeds, preserved in white ash and black
charcoal, become resonant elegies. The
glowing yellow of gingko leaves, or the
close-packed petals of orchids and jasmine,
offer lush mandalas. Not only are pattern
and depth seemingly endless, but our
interest and attention are rewarded with
seemingly unending new facets of
experience.
–Miriam Seidel, Curator
Gingko II, Lambda print

2. Sharon Gershoni grew up in Israel, where she studied
photography with Yosaif Cohain, a student of Minor White.
Before moving to Philadelphia, she lived for six years in Japan,
where she earned a doctorate in Visual Perception from Chiba
University. While there, she continued her photographic work,
and developed the tessellated images seen in this exhibit. These
works were shown in Japan to great acclaim, including the
grand prize from the Nikakai Association of Photographers
Exhibition at the National Museum of Art, Tokyo—Gershoni
was the first non-Japanese
photographer to win this award; exhibits at the Kiyosato
Museum of Photographic Arts; and a solo exhibition at the prestigious Kodak Photo Salon. She
has also exhibited in Los Angeles, Flantzberg (Germany), Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem. Her work is in
the collections of the Bezalel Art Academy; the Embassy of Israel, Tokyo; and K*MoPA,
Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts.
Sharon Gershoni will speak about her work on Wednesday,
November 28, 2007 at 1 pm in the CBS Auditorium, Hamilton
Hall, NW corner Broad & Pine Streets, Philadelphia.
This talk is co-presented by the Media Arts Department,
University of the Arts, with support from Israel @ 60.
This exhibit is co-sponsored by the Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery.
Red Tree, Lambda Print
Our thanks to Sharon Gershoni, Sarra Lev, Sid Sachs, Harris Fogel, Rosa Esquenazi, Laurie
Wagman and Irvin Borowsky, Keiko Miyamori, James Fuhrman, Donna Katz, Nick Gilewicz,
Sandy Garz, Marti Berk, Alison Polsky, to Muller Inc. and Goji Restaurant for generous
donations to the reception, and Kazumi Teune and Sam Malissa of the Japan America Society of
Greater Philadelphia.
Center for Arts and Culture
401 S. Broad Street Philadelphia, PA 19102 215.545.4400 www.gershmanY.com
Gallery Hours: Sunday-Friday 9 am – 5 pm, closed Saturdays Laurie Wagman & Irvin J.
Borowsky, Honorary Co-Chairs, The Borowsky Gallery
JCCs of Greater Philadelphia, in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia