Efrat Hakimi (b. 1982, Tel Aviv) is a multidisciplinary artist and educator based in Brooklyn, NY. Hakimi works across technologies and crafts. In her works, she studies objects, language, and sites to unpack the narratives and forces that shape them. Hakimi is the recipient of the Lauren and Mitchell Presser Photography Award from the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2020, and the Katz International Photography Award, 2018. Hakimi's exhibitions include the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv; Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago; Roots & Culture, Chicago; Hayarkon 19 Gallery, Tel Aviv; Mana Contemporary, Chicago; 062 Gallery, Chicago; and Rosenfeld Gallery, Tel Aviv, among others. She received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2019), Studied Fine Art at HaMidrasha-Faculty of the Arts, Beit Berl (2016), and holds a BSc. In Mechanical Engineering from Ben-Gurion University, Be’er Sheva, Israel (2010).
Efrat Hakimi’s “Flora” proposes the identification of 50 specimens from the Wildflowers of Palestine, here given form using replicas, faux-pressed plants, and their impressions. These “specimens” were adapted from photographs held by the Library of Congress as part of the Matson Photography Collection and dated 1900-1920. The common names of the plants are given in Hebrew, Arabic, and English, reflecting Zionist confiscation of Palestine land and appropriation of its lingua into Hebrew to align with their own national ambitions. The “Palestinian Iris,” for example, thus became the “Eretz-Israeli Arum.” Hakimi’s work attempts to keep the histories of these plants known, and their former names from being disappeared in translation. The Arabic names were contributed by Reem Ghanayem, a Palestinian Poet and translator.