Tfila
Artist
Michal Rovner
Israeli, born 1957
Date2004
MediumSteel vitrine with glass, stone, and DVD video projection
Dimensions57 1/8 x 32 x 20 in. (145.1 x 81.3 x 50.8 cm)
ClassificationsTime Based Media
Credit LinePurchased with funds from the North Carolina State Art Society (Robert F. Phifer Bequest) in honor of Huston Paschal
Object number2006.8a-e
On View
On viewAt first glance Tfila (Prayer in Hebrew), appears to consist of a stone tablet covered with an ancient text. But upon closer inspection, one realizes the small black characters are in constant motion and the mysterious alphabet is actually a video projection of a miniature woman in a black robe (the artist herself) bending and dipping across the stone—dancing or perhaps going through the motions of a prayer. With no beginning or end, Tfila provides an enigmatic and mysterious narrative, mesmerizing and hypnotic. Though Rovner prefers not to assign a single interpretation to her works, one could read this as an ensemble of figures marching across the stone as in mass migration. “I try to pull viewers into a place of some kind of ‘unknowingness,’” the artist has stated. “Then, at that moment of confusion, of not knowing, maybe they find out something new.”
[L. Dougherty, 2010]ProvenanceCreated New York, 2004; collection of the artist; [Pace Wildenstein Gallery, New York]; sold to NCMA, 2006.
Published ReferencesLinda Johnson Dougherty, "New Acquisition: Jennifer Steinkamp Video Installation," in North Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Fall 2010), mentioned 21.
Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Far from Home," February 17-July 13, 2008.
Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection Reimagined" (Thematic Gallery: "Devotion and the Arts in the People's Collection"), June 7, 2025-present.
Object Rights Statement
The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) makes images of its collection available online to support research and scholarship and to inform and educate the public. Certain works of art, as well as the photographs of those works of art, may be protected by copyright, trademark, or related interests not owned by the NCMA. The responsibility for ascertaining whether any such rights exist and for obtaining all other necessary permissions remains with the applicant. To request images and/or permissions from the NCMA, please complete our online request form.
