Masik, 2012
Video, 6:06 min
In Hebrew, the process of harvesting olives is called Masik. Traditionally, it is a process of shaking and beating the ripe olive tree around October, in order to collect the olives that fall from the impact of the flogging.
Here a machine is shaking the trees, so that the olives fall onto a net. The net is then collected, and made into a sack which the workers then carry.
In this video work, Palestinian labourers are engaged in the harvest in the grove of kibbutz Revivim in the south of the country. The young Palestinians are wielding their sticks; their movements fierce, skilled and bold, it is a fast dance — a hunt, almost a pursuit. Their dark faces are covered to protect their lungs from the dust, and this casts a menacing air. This edited footage of an uninterrupted olive harvest is distinct from mere documentation of an agricul — tural procedure. The nets on the ground transform the olives into prey.
