A series of portraits accompanied by personal testimonies of 18-year-old Arab men and women living in Israel photographed by a Jewish-Israeli artist. I wish to confront and dispute the widespread misconceptions and stereotypes of people I was brought up to consider more as foes rather than as allies. The essence of these portraits does not lie in their aesthetics, but rather in their complex dynamics - unwelcoming expressions and body language testifying to the tense nature of our engagement. This is an inside view by one who is typically regarded as an outsider aimed at reconciliation through understanding and respect.
Although I spent most of my life in Israel, I came to realize I didn’t truly know or understand its Arab society - over a fifth of the country’s population. In a highly political environment I became interested in the stories of people living as a minority in a country defined by its majority’s religion.
I wish to confront and dispute the widespread misconceptions and stereotypes of the people within my own country who I was brought up to consider more as foes rather than as allies. I decided to focus on Arab men and women at the age of eighteen, a crucial turning point in their lives, when they graduate from school, become legal adults, and earn the right to vote. Yet unlike their Jewish counterparts, most do not join the military. I chose to portray my so-called “enemy†aiming to highlight the impact that cultural and internal conflict have had on these young men and women both individually and collectively. The essence of these intimate environmental portraits does not lie in their aesthetics, but rather in their complex dynamics - unwelcoming expressions and body language testifying to the tense nature of our engagement.
Eighteen is a point of contact serving as an invitation to get closer. A project aimed at reconciliation through understanding and respect. An inside view by one who is typically regarded as an outsider. If I, a Jewish Israeli man, have been accepted and was allowed into my subjects’ lives – so can others.