Artist Statement
My photographic work focuses primarily on Manhood and the Becoming of a Man amidst the Israeli culture.
The state of Israel is a relatively new one. Before the state of Israel was reborn, the Jews lived in exile and were seen as foreigners in every place they decided to settle. Upon immigration back to Israel, a substantial need was realized to erase the different cultures of the Diaspora embedded in the Jews (Who emigrated from the various countries which participated in the holocaust, and sought a new fearless life in Israel) and to replace them by means of a melting pot of the different cultures, thus creating the "new Jew": an industrious, strong and manly field worker. This new type of persona is the opposite of the typical depiction of a Jew in exile: a weak, feminine, conniving peddler. This process of eradicating the past and the creation of a new man, a stronger man, is what my work is all about.
I see myself as part of a society which is quickly changing, but does know where it is ultimately heading. I, a young man who knows his people's past but lives in the present, take a moment to look around me and try to capture where we come from and where we are headed.
I have a unique understanding of the importance of one's connection to mother earth (one of the principles of the early Israeli settlement) as I was born to an agricultural family. I can virtually see the effects of the Israeli "new" culture as it was transferred to my parents and then, to some extent, on to me and to my generation.
The Israeli army service, in which I served for four years in active combat units, is widely appreciated as another measure of one's personality and moral stamina and not just a duty to his country. A person is evaluated in his service by his level of commitment and the type of roles he takes upon himself throughout. Here lies the duality and complexity of my work and my life, since I cherish my origins and heritage, and yet have an unbiased and critical view of my surroundings and my country which I try to expose. I am in a unique position to do just that, since I am a product of the society which I am trying to capture.