Dafna Gazit

Dafna Gazit (*1971) is an Israeli artist and professional photographer based in Düsseldorf, Germany. She is a graduate of the Applied Photography Department at Hadassah College of Technology, Jerusalem (1997, now The Jerusalem Multidisciplinary College), and HaMidrasha – Faculty of Arts, Beit Berl College (2005).

Gazit has been active in the fields of art and photography since 1998. In 2005, she co-founded Alfred Gallery in Tel Aviv, an artist-run, non-profit cooperative supporting emerging artists, where she was an active member until 2019. Her commitment to collective artistic practice continues through long-term collaboration with The Betonbox, a Düsseldorf-based artist cooperative, active since 2015.  This connection, combined with the impact of the ongoing war in Israel since October 7, 2023, ultimately led to her relocation to Germany.

Her artistic work explores the intersection between contemporary photography and its origins, using 19th-century techniques such as Daguerreotypes, Heliographs, and Gum Bichromate printing. Working with both digital and analog processes, she uses a variety of camera formats. Through her practice, Gazit aims to restore matter to photography while reviving its lost magic: capturing light rather than capturing a moment.

During the Borderland Residency in Goch, Dafna Gazit plans to continue exploring and developing her work with 19th-century photographic techniques. her practice involves all the stages of production – she recreates the entire process as it has been done in the 19th century, using the same materials that were used then for these processes. The residency will offer the focused, quiet environment essential for these time-intensive processes.

Gazits planned activities include:
1) Gum Bichromate printing using digital photographs created during the residency. This process allows her to combine modern image-making with old, hands-on printing methods.
2) Experimental tests aimed at recreating the earliest photographic method: Heliograph by using large format camera and long exposures.
3) Daguerreotype creation using a large format camera and iodide silver plates to photograph the surroundings of Goch and the residency quarters.