Eighteen


  • Photographer
    Natan Dvir
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Company/Studios
    Natan Dvir Photography
  • Date of Photograph
    2009

A series of daily life images 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. I chose to photography and 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. This is an inside view by one who is typically regarded as an outsider aimed at reconciliation through understanding and respect.

Story

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 photography and 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. By photographing my subjects’ daily life within their normal surroundings I hope to present a sense of place, and to reveal the social context of their lives.

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.

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