Three Israeli photographers to exhibit at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art

Most of what we hear about Israel today calls to mind images and themes of violence and conflict. In Fall 2007, The Tel Aviv Museum of Art will show the works of three photographers that have found success in portraying the other sides of Israel, encompassing the religious, the familial, and the historical aspects of Israel. The exhibitions remind us that media portrayals, with car bombs and racial tension dominating the headlines, is only one not-very-adequate perspective. The exhibition is made possible through the participation of the American Friends of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.

Through October 13, 2007, Lili Almog's "Perfect Intimacy," is a series of photographs portraying the devotional, contemplative lives of Carmelite nuns. A prominent location is Haifa, Bethlehem. This revered city looks towards Israel from just beyond the border of the West Bank, and it is still prayer that binds lives together.

Vardi Kahana's "One Family," running through October 6, 2007, explores three generations of a Jewish family, encompassing the utopian communities of the kibbutzim, Israeli youth movements in the West Bank, and other political, social, and geographic elements of life in Israel.

The trio is completed with "Moods and Modes in Israeli Photography: Works from the Collection," through September 29, 2007. A gift of collectors Leon and Michaela Constantiner, over 100 photographs by 30 Israeli artists will be on display.

From the Tel Aviv Museum's website:

Prominent among the various themes explored throughout the exhibition is the preoccupation with local landscapes and the urge to investigate the land unfolding lengthwise and crosswise as landscapes of longing, as small blessed plots of land, and as areas of dispute.

For more information about the exhibitions, and more images, click here.

Image: The grandchildren of my cousin, Hanan Kahana Kiryat Seffer, 2005. ©Vardhi Kahana