MY FATHER ROCK
In the 1980s, the cultural practice of stone collection became a recurring feature in the Israeli periphery, particularly in regions marked by abandonment and neglect. This phenomenon should not be understood merely as an aesthetic or recreational activity but rather as a layered form of historical engagement. Through the act of gathering stones, individuals and communities attempted to forge material and symbolic connections with the past—most notably with antiquity, but also with more immediate and contested historical narratives. The stones themselves functioned simultaneously as archaeological remnants, mnemonic devices, and political signifiers, embodying the tension between preservation and appropriation. In this sense, the practice reflected broader cultural negotiations over belonging, memory, and the construction of heritage in spaces defined by absence and rupture.
