Five Legs
Merav Shinn Ben‑Alon
2020
The graphic novella Five Legs is a work of psychological detection, an artist’s book, a solo exhibition, and a work of art in book format.
The central story of the bilingual novella is about the gradual exposure of a family secret. The representations of the languages and periods of time reveal the gap between what is visible and what is said, between the perceived and the inconceivable, between truth and lies, until perceived reality crumbles. Shoham Smith, the editor of the book who also wrote its prologue, dubbed this new genre a “polygraphic novella.”
The first edition sold out within three months, and the second edition was published in September 2020. It was reviewed in dozens of publications, acquired by libraries in Israel and by university libraries such as those at Harvard, Duke, Columbia, Stanford, Hebrew Union College and the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. In June 2021, the Israel Museum acquired the sketch books from which the work evolved.
- Design: Michal Shapira
- Editing: Merav Shin Ben Alon
- Texts: Merav Shinn Ben-Alon, Shoham Smith
- Translation: Gilah Kahn-Hoffman
- Language editing: Shoham Smith
- Copies: 1000
- Pages: 180
- Type of binding: softcover
- Dimensions (cm): 20X20X1.8
- Printing: A.R. Printing LTD
- Binding: A.R. Printing LTD
- Type of printing: Offset
- Publication: Self-Published
- Place of publication: Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Israel
- Supported by: The Israel Lottery Council for Culture & Arts, The Foundation for Independent Artists Established by the Ministry of Culture and Sport
- Book photography: Yair Meyuhas
- ISBN: 9789655991208
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Merav Shinn Ben-Alon, born in 1965, lives and works in Tel Aviv-Yafo. Shinn Ben-Alon holds a BFA from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem and an MA degree from the Interdisciplinary Program in the Faculty of Arts at Tel Aviv University. Shinn Ben-Alon works in various mediums, including drawing, painting, installation, and writing. In her works, Shinn Ben-Alon strives to express emotional content through minimal means and deals with the topics of gender and trauma while commenting on muted social narratives.
