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Skylar Brennan
Thoughts From A Yid

Anxiety of the In-between, Adi Nes, Soldiers

Untitled (The Last Supper), from series "Soldiers", 90 x 148 / 185 x 235, 1999 (Courtesy of Adi Nes)
Untitled (The Last Supper), from series "Soldiers", 90 x 148 / 185 x 235, 1999 (Courtesy of Adi Nes)

The audacity of my impulse to fixate on revisiting specific artworks often signals that I need to say something about them. With Adi Nes’s work, however, the challenge lies in the endlessness of things that could be said. I find myself unable to encapsulate the myriad layers into a cohesive thought. Instead, I will dissect one “crumb” of Nes’s work, hoping to leave the reader with an insatiable hunger for the fuller, more robust meal.

The “crumb” I aim to examine is the development of anxiety within the gravitas of Nes’s Soldier Series. Comprising 22 images created between 1994 and 2000, the series serves as a short story in time while also offering a vignette of where we are now. These images do not adhere strictly to the six years they span; they serrate time, scratching beneath the surface of aestheticization to reveal essential expression. There is a palpable tension between the romanticism and sentimentality of the images and the political, conceptual, and critical passions embedded in the Israeli landscape and the soldiers who inhabit it. While identity, gender, and Renaissance and Baroque influences provide ample material for discussion, my focus is on the serrated time and the anxiety of “in-betweenness” that creates a heavy, lingering unease for viewers.

Untitled, from series “Soldiers”, 90 x 90 / 140 x 140 cm., 1995 (Courtesy of Adi Nes)

The Soldier Series encapsulates moments of the Israeli Defense Force’s (IDF) military ideology but pointedly captures the moments between combat. Nes himself states, “Death, in my photographs, strikes at the most trivial moments, and not at the heroic ones” (Smyth). This interplay between the weighty and the trivial tempts viewers to live on the periphery of an experience starkly opposite to what Nes’s figures represent. The anxiety evoked by these “in-between” moments carries both global weight and acute personal resonance.

On one level, the photographs seem to pause time, confronting viewers with an internal anxiety that recalls their own humanness. The singular and internal “I” wrestles with its motivations and neuroses, while simultaneously being swept into the collective and external “eye.” Nes’s photographs interrupt the viewer’s expectations, isolating moments before they are consumed by the whole. These repetitive yet distinct interruptions are what generate anxiety—they are moments that cannot be fully understood or resolved.

Untitled, from series “Soldiers”, 90 x 90 / 140 x 140 cm., 1995 (Courtesy of Adi Nes).

In Jewish mysticism, pnimiyut (תוּיִּמ יִנ ְפּ) translates to “inner essence” or “internal dimension,” referring to the hidden spiritual realities beyond superficial appearances (Wilber). Nes’s 22 images seem to peel back these superficial layers, exploring pnimiyut within the collective experience of soldiers and their individual struggles. Through these moments of in-betweenness, Nes teaches us the unrelenting nature of attempting to grasp what perpetually seeks deeper understanding.

Untitled, from series “Soldiers”, 90 x 90 / 140 x 140 cm., 1995 (Courtesy of Adi Nes)

What makes an exceptional photographer is the awareness of what the camera cannot capture. Nes, through his masterful engagement with the “in-between” of humanity, embodies this understanding. In doing so, he asks us to confront the weight of our own existence—who we are, what we stand for, and who we stand with.


Works Cited
Smyth, Diane. “Adi Nes: Israeli Soldiers Challenging Masculine Stereotypes.” 1854 Photography. May 2020. https://www.1854.photography/2020/05/adi-nes-israeli-soldiers-challenging-masculine-stereotypes/.

Wilber, Ken. “Kabbalistic Reenactment: Philosophical Reflections on Jewish Mysticism.” PhilArchivehttps://philarchive.org/archive/WILKRP.

About the Author
Skylar Brennan holds a Bachelor’s in Fine Art and a Master’s in Therapeutic Recreation. With a passion for exploring the intersection of personal and cultural experiences, her work delves into the connections between aesthetic expression, spirituality, and identity. A yid deeply inspired by the events of October 7, she is committed to fostering a renewed connection with Hashem, Israel, and the arts.
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