Michal Rovner: Untitled/Night, 2016

For months, world-renowned video artist Michal Rovner listened to the nightly howls of jackals in the hills surrounding her farm. One night, while attempting to catch a glimpse of them with a night-vision camera, a jackal emerged from the bushes and looked straight at her. Rovner was reminded of Anubis, the jackal-headed god of Egyptian mythology, protector of souls traveling to the afterlife. This guardian-like creature on the Gardner's Façade represents one iteration of Israeli American artist Michal Rovner’s Night series. Under the jackal’s watchful gaze, tiny human figures move across the background landscape like text on a page, representing the fragility of human existence across time and space, a theme resonant with the story of Esther.