Yael Ben-Zion

Tablet Magazine, a Jewish arts, news and lifestyle magazine just posted a very interesting podcast with photographer Yael Ben-Zion.

Yael Ben-Zion's book 5638 Miles Away, published by Kehrer, documents the complications of trying to live an ordinary life in Israel, where evidence of the country's military orientation abound. Ben-Zion currently lives in New York and visits family and friends in Israel frequently.

The title of her fascinating project and book 5638 Miles Away is the distance between New York and Tel Aviv.

Please visit her website and see more images from this project and read more about it here.

The Tablet Magazine's podcast can be found here

The book which was selected title for the German Photo Book Award 2011 and one of Photo Eye's best book for 2010 comes out in America this week and is accompanied by an exhibition at Weill Art Gallery, 92nd Street Y, New York, NY

© copyright all images Yael Ben-Zion

Yaakov Israel

Yaakov Israel is a photographer from Israel.

He just finished his newest project "The Quest For The Man On The White Donkey" which deals with the Israeli social-political landscape

It was done between 2002 and 2009, mainly with a 8 x 10 camera.

I like his project a lot. Here is an excerpt from his statement:

The “Quest” is an attempt to relay a personal take to the Israeli reality with a broader sense of belonging to the global human collectivity.

Because here the evidences of the past are so strongly intertwined with the marks of the present and the questions about our future: sometimes it is possible to see all this revealed in front of one’s eye, and all at the same time.
Part of my identity as Israeli is to question everything, not to leave anything for granted: to show the tensions that constantly exist, to convey the truth behind the construction of the reality.

Religious, social aspects filter into everyday life and their meanings are exposed as the journey moves on. Jewish missionaries, lost souls and individuals living in the fringes of the society: all blends in to form this landscape of humanity.

all images below are from the series The Quest For The Man On The White Donkey

© all images Yaakov Israel