ETHICS. HISTORY. SPIRIT OF PLACE.

Prof. Micha Kirshner, Exhibition curator

What is the importance of documentary, press, and magazine photography? What is the significance of reportage photography or one that takes a stand? And what is the importance of social stance and commitment?

Three essential components are part and parcel of the photographic endeavor: a photograph transports information from the scene of the event to the community, presenting it for public criticism; public criticism, which has the potential to challenge spectators on moral issues that derive from the photograph; and finally, and frequently, the photograph serves as the historical agent, in the spirit of “this is how things were and this is the zeitgeist.”The photographer is the Josephus Flavius of the Modern Era. And here comes the dissonance.

Seemingly, photographs, like photographs, are the authentic presentation of the chronicles. The event was photographed, hence it took place, and if this is the case, it is an accurate copy of how the image is presented. Personally, I am not a big fan of the theory holding that the photograph is the advocate of truth, however the image is surely supposed to present subjective truth. The truth is in the eye of the beholder.

Public consciousness grants the journalist far-reaching freedoms. However, this is not true of the photographer. In the perception of public consciousness, a photograph is the ultimate representation of truth, and therefore freedom of the photographer’s personal stance often prompts antagonism. The accumulated consciousness of the viewer insists on understanding the “photographic act” as stemming from immaculate truth. Yet this is not the case. Photographers are public emissaries. They are not ensconced in their rooms with a keyboard. They give off the whiff of dusty roads, of blood, of exploitation, of iniquity. And yes, of spiritual elation too. Photography makes it possible for us to see that which we do not like, and like all artists, the photographer has the power to challenge public order. Effective photography is supposed to shake off the dust of convention.

The Seventh Estate, as the media has been dubbed, is replete with examples of the power of photography to make a difference. Three incidental examples:

The photographs by American photographer and sociologist Lewis Hine who, in the early 20th century, documented the humiliating working conditions suffered by emigrant children, served as a decisive factor in the far-reaching changes made to the laws of child employment.

A heart-rending photograph by the Turkish journalist Nilüfer Demir of the three-yearold Syrian child, Aylan Kurdi, a refugee who drowned on the shores of Turkey on his way to Greece with his parents (2015), opened the gates of Europe, albeit for a short time, to refugees from Syria and Iraq.

Nick Ut’s iconic photograph, which documented nine-year-old Phan Th Kim Phúc, severely burned by a napalm bomb (1972) during the Vietnam War, represented the horrors of war and intensified the demonstrations against President Nixon. Nixon attempted to argue that the photograph was manipulative and edited. He went as far as that.

The sovereign is afraid of what will be seen, by the scent of the built-in authenticity of the images. Consequently, the photograph is an effective tool. The photographer roams the world carrying a heavy sack of responsibility on his shoulders. He is the tireless creator of memory capsules. In the spirit of “it shall be as a memorial between thine eyes.” The viewer will decide.

The Local Testimony exhibition is a powerful platform on which Israeli photojournalists demonstrate commitment, mutual responsibility, and genuine professionalism, often while endangering themselves. Its undeniable importance lies in the fact that it serves as an assembly of artists of photography who create pungent series and sections of local reality, which often arouse contention, sadness, as well as spiritual elation, and represent the spirit of place.