2016 TESTIMONY LOCAL

Testimony Local of manager and Initiator ,Lalkin-Wohlfeiler Dana

Every year Local Testimony seeks to display selected photographs that best represent the events of the past year. Thousands of photographs are submitted; the jury conducts three rounds of judging and endeavors to select the photographs that tell the most interesting documentary story. In the third round, the jury and the Local Testimony editorial board meet and conduct a discourse, and the exhibition takes shape as it emerges from the thousands

of photographs that represent diverse spheres of life. Identifying the most outstanding event that will etch the year on historical memory always arouses deliberation. In 2016, the “Intifada of Individuals,” that commenced in the fall of

2015, outlined the main story.

The attacks committed by individuals were characterized by unexpected assault, pandemonium, tension, and fear. These were moments of unforeseen violence, that no one could anticipate when, where and how they would erupt. These events attest to the extent of the changing conditions of documentarians and photojournalists. Many of the stabbing events were reported in the media, based on the documentation of security cameras and not by photographs taken by professional news photographers. Often the first report came from the security cameras, from photographs taken by passersby, or documentation of civil rights organizations. However, the full human story

was recorded by photojournalists and professional documentarians. Many of the photographs in this exhibition give expression to the full story, the feelings, the atmosphere, however they were taken after the event and the empty

streets, bereavement, armed civilians – all record tension, fear, and contend with the situation. The documentary photograph shifts from the moment that captures the event, from the preliminary report, to the human dimension,

which is increasingly embedded in the ability to create the photographed story. The shooting of the terrorist Abdel Fattah al-Sharif by the soldier Elor Azaria in Hebron was exposed following documentation by an activist from the

B’Tselem organization, but the public whirlwind that it stirred up, and the fact that the soldier was brought to trial underscore the story’s dimensions, that go far beyond the report, and the vital place of photojournalism and documentary photography precisely in an environment inundated with cameras and the media.

Local Testimony is an annual exhibition which has been held in Israel since 2003. It presents local photojournalism and documentary photographs alongside World Press Photo – an annual international photography exhibition. Local Testimony presents the cultural and artistic qualities which are part and parcel of documentary photography, and underscores its social and historical importance; photography that expresses a complex human existence that does not receive full coverage in conventional media. 

I would like to express my gratitude to the jury members for their loyal and complex work during the various stages of judging and for the fascinating and profound discussion during the final stage of selection of the photographs.

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.

Sagit Zaloof Namir, photographer, artist and lecturer
Vardi Kahana, photographer, curator and member of Local Testimony editorial board
Hanoch Marmari, head of Culture and Education Division, the National Library of Israel
Atta Awisat, photojournalist
Yon Feder, editor-in-chief, Yedioth Internet
Kinneret Palti, curator in charge, MUZA - Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv
Micha Kirshner, artist, teacher and curator of Local Testimony 2016
Hanna Shaviv, photographer, artist and lecturer
Dafna Shalom, Photographer and multi-disciplinary artist