Filmed at various locations in Arizona, Indiana, Chicago and Israel – a vivid tapestry of images and sounds – Sunset’s Burning Late is a poetic love letter to an important relationship in the artist’s life – her relationship with Israel. The different locations, all together, simulated this relationship for Rafalson. She asked her younger brother to participate in the video to illustrate the similarity and the difference that they share in their respective relationship with Israel. In a series of tableaux that blend the tactile with the abstract, Sunset’s Burning Late invokes familiar landscape and botanical metaphors.

Growing up in Israel as an immigrant from the former USSR, Rafalson had to adjust to becoming part of Israeli society, almost completely relinquishing the culture and identity from her native home. When she moved to the US for grad school as a young adult, the physical and the emotional distance from her home made her rethink the identity she had fought so hard for, but did not acknowledge: “What it truly means to be Israeli,” says the artist, “to be a ‘sabra’.” Sabra – a Hebrew word, with Arabic origins, refers to a Jewish person born in Israel. However, the Sabra cactus, or Prickly Pear in English, is not a native plant in Israel and was transplanted from the Americas in the 16th century by the Spanish. To Rafalson, it is ironic that both Israelis and Palestinians see the Sabra as a national symbol with ancient roots and connection to their native land. “Growing up with the Sabra myth, I knew enough to change my identity, but not enough to understand the depth of history behind it, and now I question my belonging to the culture and place.”