A small photograph in a newspaper caught my eye and sparked my curiosity. It led me to decide to visit the Sarah Racine Root Research Laboratory at Tel Aviv University.

It is the only large aeroponic laboratory in the world.

Immediately, upon my first visit to the lab, I was drawn to this intriguing space. Just as I was previously attracted to other subterranean spaces – dark, irregular spaces that are hidden in our world, places that indicate the fragile seam between above and below, between light and darkness, between life and death.

Being in subterranean spaces creates, with time, a sort of revelation accompanied by a sense of mystery and discomfort. The power of the experience raises thoughts of stressful situations both real and imagined, between the end and the beginning, and between ancient time and future time.

The subterranean photographs enable me to clarify disturbing aspects of scale, place, and time, as well as thoughts of survival and annihilation.

Yudith Schreiber