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Culture

Photos of Israel and the West Bank from a new perspective

Heike Mund eg
June 17, 2019

The images we know of Israel and the West Bank very often portray conflict. An exhibition at the Jewish Museum Berlin features works of photographers who explored the area with an artistic approach.

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Jüdisches Museum Berlin, Ausstellung: This Place - Frédéric Brenner, The Weinfeld Family, 2009
Image: Frédéric Brenner/Courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery

The exhibition project "This Place" was initiated by French photographer Frédéric Brenner. His idea: to get artists of different nationalities, religions and backgrounds to contribute to a group exhibition — without, however, including any Israelis or Palestinians. "We wanted people with a fresh perspective, who aren't involved in the daily political conflict in Israel," said Brenner.

Twelve international renowned photographers, including Brenner, took part in the project, exploring Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank over several visits or a longer stay. The 12 contributors to the exhibition are not photo-journalists, as the goal was also to avoid the topics usually covered by reporters.

Black-and-white photographic work by Jungjin Lee, Unnamed Road 045, 2011
NY-based Korean photographer focused on the Negev Desert and created a black-and-white series called "Unnamed Road"Image: Jungjin Lee

The resulting 200 photos and videos selected for the exhibition present a wide variety of people living in Israel and the West Bank: Jews, Christians, Muslims, Copts, Druze, Palestinians and many others.

After a stop in Tel Aviv, Prague and New York, the traveling exhibition can now be seen at the Jewish Museum Berlin until January 5, 2020. Click through the gallery above to see some of the works on show.