'Salt Bride': What happens when an Israeli artist leaves a dress in the Dead Sea?

“It looks like snow, like sugar, like death’s embrace; solid tears, like a white surrender to fire and water combined."

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Updated: AUGUST 25, 2016 13:15
Sigalit Landau, Salt Bride VIII, 2014, Color Print (photo credit: COURTESY SIGALIT LANDAU/MARLBOROUGH CONTEMPORARY)
Sigalit Landau, Salt Bride VIII, 2014, Color Print
(photo credit: COURTESY SIGALIT LANDAU/MARLBOROUGH CONTEMPORARY)
Soaking in the abundant salt and minerals in the waters of the Dead Sea is known to have various health benefits, but what would happen to a garment left immersed in the hyper-saline water for a prolonged period of time?
Israeli artist Sigalit Landau has documented the astounding results of the experiment at the lowest point on Earth in her eight-part photography series 'Salt Bride.'
The images, now on display at the Marlborough Contemporary gallery in London, depict the crystalline transformation of a dress submerged for a period of time in the salt-rich Dead Sea.
“It looks like snow, like sugar, like death’s embrace; solid tears, like a white surrender to fire and water combined,” said Landau.
In collaboration with photographer Yotam From, Jerusalem native Landau conducted the underwater project using items such as a traditional Hasidic gown replicated from the costume of the female lead in the canonical Yiddish play The Dybbuk.
Landau's exhibit is on display at the gallery until September 3.