This is what happens when you leave a dress in the Dead Sea

The photos are on display at the Marlborough Contemporary Museum in London

Israeli artist Sigalit Landau submerged a 1920’s-style black gown into the Dead Sea for two months transforming it into a crystal covered piece of art.

PHOTO: Sigalit Landau/Marlborough Contemporary

Landau submerged the dress, a replica of the traditional Hasidic one worn by the character Leah in the seminal Yiddish play The Dybbuk — into the Dead Sea in 2014 and documented its evolution over time in photographs.

PHOTO: Sigalit Landau/Marlborough Contemporary

Together, the photos form a series titled Salt Bride which is currently being exhibited at London’s Marlborough Contemporary.

PHOTO: Sigalit Landau/Marlborough Contemporary



The Dead Sea’s salt-rich waters crystallised the dress, changing it from a “symbol associated with death and madness into the wedding dress it was always intended to be,” reads a statement describing the exhibition  of Landau’s photos. The photos are on display at the Marlborough Contemporary museum until September 3.

PHOTO: Sigalit Landau/Marlborough Contemporary



This is not the first time Landau has experimented with leaving something in the Dead Sea. The artist has shot some of her most iconic videos in its water, and has been trialing with the salt crystallisation of objects for years.

This article originally appeared on The Times of Israel.