Foto Friday – Local Testimony
One of the troubling things about photography, especially at times like these, is that a picture is worth a thousand words – and not always the right ones. Israel’s military operation against Gaza is only entering its seventh day, and already, hundreds of thousands of images have flooded the web, the papers, the airwaves. Some are powerful, others are weak. Some are informative, others deceptive. Some are strong enough to make a statement on their own, others serve to illustrate text. And so many seem besides the point right now — but it may be too early to tell.
Sometimes, even in a networked world of instant communications and citizen journalists, a bit of time is needed before passing judgment on what makes a good news photo. And so, each year, concurrent with the international World Press Photo exhibition, Israel hosts its own photojournalism competition, called Local Testimony. The pictures chosen capture moments with both a media value and a human significance, and is also a retrospective on the events of the past year as reflected in its main categories: news, culture and art, nature and environment, portraits, daily life and sports.
The winning photo is by AP photographer Muhammed Muheisen was taken at the village of Bil’in in June 2008. It shows a Palestinian youth running to avoid tear gas grenades that were fired to disperse a demonstration against the separation barrier.
The winning photo series, Homeless, is by independent photographer Felix Lupa, who documented the lives of two homeless people living in an abandoned car in Tel-Aviv: blind foreign worker Boris, aged 54, and his self-appointed caretaker Genady, aged 70.
The winning photo in the sports category was taken by Dudi Vaaknin, a staff photographer at Ynet and Israel Hayom. It’s a picture of Beitar Jerusalem soccer player Yoav Ziv, and is pretty self-explanatory.
Up until last week, going by the topics covered in the exhibit, Israel was preoccupied with domestic politics, a stalemated security situation, social welfare issues and a hefty amount of navel-gazing. Now, it’s the war. There’s no telling what images will come to represent this new year when it ends. What’s for certain is that Israel is a fantastic canvas for photojournalists and that Local Testimony 2009 will continue to present the best of the best.
Local Testimony is on at the Dizengoff Center in Tel Aviv until January 11, after which it moves up to the Open Museum at Tel Hai until mid-February. The full exhibition can be viewed here as well.
Foto Friday – Israel Thai Style
Filed under: A New Reality, Art, Foto Friday, General, Life
Asaf Friedman is a professional photographer who, for the past two years, has been documenting the lives of Thai guest workers in Israel. The project is now a powerful exhibit, entitled “Israel Thai Style.”
Friedman trained his lens on the workers’ private lives and, in particular, how they spend their leisure time. Theirs is an invisible community that most Israelis not only never see, but don’t even know exists — though it literally touches the lives of Israelis every day through the fruits and vegetables put on the table.
“I always see them at the town squares as they wait for their employers to pick them up, riding their bikes in the middle of the road, caring for the unfortunate, working in agriculture and construction, and doing the work that not one aside from them is willing to do. When a troop of Thai workers crossed the field across from my house to pick potatoes for several months; that was the first time I really saw them. Questions began to arise – who are these ‘foreign workers’? What other identities do they have, aside from that of a laborer? What do they do when they go ‘home’? What do their lives look like and to what extent does their foreignness characterize them?”
To answer his questions, Freidman got to know some Thai workers who brought him into their private sphere. In gaining access to the caravan neighborhoods scattered throughout the country, Friedman was amazed to discover a world that, without his knowing it, had existed right under his nose.
“My interest is to document, through the camera lens, a collection of rituals and situations from the everyday private live of the Thai migrant workers in order to expose the cultural and social capital they bring with them. Although the exhibit doesn’t directly or explicitly relate to the fundamental significances of the presence of migrant workers in Israel, it could open a small window through which we might think about, reflect on and discuss them.”
Freidman looked at the seamy side of celebration as well, including cock-fighting, pig slaugtering, gambling, and amateur beauty contests for both genders. “Cock-fights in an enlightened country like Israel seems very brutal and in fact goes against a lot of conventions in a progressive society. It’s important for me to emphasize that this is a very popular sport in Southeast Asia, and Thailand specifically.”
Although not overtly political, Freidman does intend for his work to be a statement. “Israel’s migrant workers represent a component, albeit a transparent one, within Israeli society. The significance of the migrant workers presence affects not only the structure and organization of the labor market in Israel, but also exposes other basic aspects of social and political life in Israel.”
“Israel Thai Style,” is on till December 30 at the Dizengoff Center in Tel Aviv and can also be accessed online at Friedman’s website.
Foto Friday – Israel’s National Photo Collection
Filed under: Art, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Movies, Pop Culture, Travel
Ten years ago, at the time of Israel’s jubilee anniversary celebration, the Government Press Office launched a unique website of its images archive. The National Photo Collection is indeed the personal photo album of the State of Israel and it is an amazing if somewhat overlooked trove of treasure for anyone interested in Israeli history – political, social and cultural. Personally, I go for the pop culture, so here are three images from the 60s and 70s of glamorous celebrities visiting and supporting Israel. There are plenty more.
Sophia Loren Arriving at Lod Airport For Filming of the Movie “Judith” In Israel, 1964
Photograph: Fritz Cohen. Israel GPO National Photo Collection
Film Stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton Visiting Western Wall Plaza In Jerusalem, 1975
Photograph: Sa’ar Ya’acov, Israel GPO National Photo Collection
Hollywood Singer And Actress Diana Ross Making P.M. Itzhak Rabin Join In Her Song During The ‘Salute To Israel’ Gala Dinner In Los Angeles, 1976
Photograph: Sa’ar Ya’acov, Israel GPO National Photo Collection
Foto Friday – Sderot Through the Chameleon’s Eye
Filed under: Art, Foto Friday, General, Life, Movies, War
A lot of stuff happened this week in Sderot that you wouldn’t have expected. An antique car rally blew into town, for instance. Who knew? An international film festival opened. I wasn’t there but fortunately, photographer Rafael Ben-Ari was, and this week’s Foto Friday comes courtesy of his news photo syndicate, Chameleons Eye.
My last encounter with Sderot was the inauguration of a portable above-ground bomb shelter. And yes, five minutes after we arrived on site, there was an air raid and we had 15 seconds to run into a dingy stairwell for shelter, (the port-o-shelter not having yet arrived). Some interesting thoughts flash through your mind when you’re struggling to climb over a fence in heels while your bosses sprint vigorously ahead with nary a look backwards, none of them printable. Thank goodness there was someone – a photographer as it happened – who turned around to lend me a hand. A hero. 10 minutes later we were all back on the street again. That’s life in Sderot.
So, in between the rockets, here’s what went down this week. The 7th London to Jerusalem JNF Car Rally started in England on May 18th. Participants drove via France, Switzerland, Italy and Greece, then came by ship to Israel and toured around the country. On Sunday they visited Sderot. Yesterday they were in Jerusalem. I know because I saw this particular car. My cab driver and I were both very thrilled.
Actually, come to think of it, I had another encounter with Sderot this year, when the folks from Hangar 11 at the Tel Aviv Port invited Sderot shop owners to bring their businesses to Tel Aviv for a few days. I couldn’t find a thing I wanted to buy until I saw the woman selling subscriptions to the Sderot Cinematheque. The deal was that they would donate it to a schoolchild in my name. I was charmed by the idea of fostering the next generation of effete little cinema snobs, not to mention keeping a kid off the streets and out of harm’s way, and immediately purchased one.
This week’s 7th Cinema South Film Festival premiered three new Israeli films at the Cinematheque and a host of local celebs made an appearance. Rafael has pictures of them on his site. He also has plenty of pictures of rocket blasts and their physical, political and spiritual aftermaths. But I liked this photo because it’s just a bunch of people having a good time.
This coming week will be Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks. In recent years, this holiday tradition of not eating meat has been coopted by Israel’s dairy companies, who’ve turned it into a cheese eating orgy. But down in the southern region of Hof Ashkelon where Rafael lives, grain still ripens in the fields as the moon waxes, becoming ready to be gathered – just as it was 3000 years ago – and you understand this is a holiday of early summer harvest.
Foto Friday – Guy Raivitz’s Back Yard
Filed under: Foto Friday, General, Israeliness, Life
Guy Raivitz is an Israeli freelance photojournalist who’s worked all around the local and foreign media. He also does pro bono work for social conscience organizations, including the UNICEF Angola mine awareness project, and Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation in Namibia. He’s trained his sharp lens on Israel as well – he was a staff photographer for “Haaretz”, among other publications – and produced a powerful portraiture series of people in soup kitchens.
Today’s Foto Friday presents four works from Guy’s latest project – a soon-to-be published book documenting Israeli reality called “Back Yard“. Each is a stand-alone work, but there is also a logic to the way he’s set them up on his website, in pairs.
Maybe its because I commuted on that freeway for six and a half years – and sat trapped in so many traffic jams while it was being built – but I found this combination strangely moving.
Guy has captured the craziness that engulfs the country on Yom Ha’atzmaut, when we tread a fine line between revelry and violence. The next day, the city lies quiet, covered by a layer of soot and shaving cream.
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