This place – stories from Israel and the West Bank
The exhibition – This place – explores the complexity of Israel and the West Bank – their topography, inhabitants, and everyday life – from the perspective of twelve internationally acclaimed photographers.
Photographer and project initiator Frédéric Brenner says that his point of departure for the project was the desire to add new artistic visions to the images familiar from reporting on the region. He convinced renowned photographers to join him: Wendy Ewald, Martin Kollar, Josef Koudelka, Jungjin Lee, Gilles Peress, Fazal Sheikh, Stephen Shore, Rosalind Fox Solomon, Thomas Struth, Jeff Wall, and Nick Waplington.
All the photographers are from outside Israel or the West Bank. Between 2009 and 2012, the twelve artists spent extended periods of time in residence in Israel and the West Bank. They were free to approach their research and the pinpointing of their subjects as they chose.
Together, the more than 200 photographs create a complex visual portrait. Themes such as identity, family, the homeland, and landscape come into focus, while emphasis on the Middle East conflict varies. The result is a deeply humanistic and nuanced examination in which art reaches beyond the illustration of conflict and becomes a platform for raising questions and engaging viewers in a conversation. The widely differing works invite viewers to discuss the heterogeneousness of the region.
