Uriel Orlow was born in 1973 in Zurich, Switzerland, and lives and works in London. The practice of Uriel Orlow is research-based, process-oriented and multi-disciplinary, including film, photography, drawing and sound. Orlow’s work is concerned with spatial manifestations of memory, and it looks to the botanical world as a stage for politics at large. Orlow’s work was presented at survey exhibitions including the 54th Venice Biennale, recent British Artists Film and Video at Tate Britain, London (2015), Aichi, and 3rd Guangzhou Triennale in China. Orlow’s work has also been shown in museums and galleries internationally including Palais de Tokyo in Paris, il Kunsthaus Zurich in Zurich, Centre d’Art Contemporain, and Centre de la Photographie, Geneva. He is a visiting professor at the Royal College of Art London and senior research fellow at University of Westminster.
Commissioned by Manifesta 12 Palermo, Uriel Orlow’s project is titled Wishing Trees, a video installation that connects human histories and nature. Specifically, Wishing Trees brings together the stories of three Sicilian trees that hold memories of significant events and people. Through contemporary stories of conflict, migration and anti-mafia activism, the roots of these trees reach into the present. Uriel Orlow’s evocative multi-part installation weaves together narratives of present-day protagonists in Sicily with the hopes and desires the trees still stand for.