Embracing Ambiguity in Israel
Frédéric Brenner, photographer
The New York Times Lens Blog
April 9, 2014

Frédéric Brenner: Netiv HaAsara, 2010

The New York Times featured a series of photographs by Frédéric Brenner titled Embracing Ambiguity in Israel on The Lens Blog. Brenner refers to this series on his website as an Archeology of Fear and Desire , which, is connected to a much larger project that he initiated called This Place.

All of this work was born of Brenner’s relentless pursuit of  his own identity (and seemingly all Jews on a certain level). For more than twenty years he has traced the Jewish Diaspora around the world to over 40 countries,  a trek that ultimately lead him to Israel —  both literally and conceptually  —  in an effort to define Jewish identity in the modern world.

This Place attempts to tackle this gargantuan task by unleashing a team of twelve photographers into Israel to compile a visual survey that digs deeper than the surface depictions popularized in the international news media.

From The Place website:

From the outset, Brenner acknowledged to himself that no single vantage point – including his own – could speak of the complexity of this historic and contested place and its shaping of contemporary lives; to begin to comprehend the radical dissonance of this place would require a multiplicity of practices and perspectives.

See the New York Time Lens Blog entry here

See more about Frédéric Brenner here

Go to This Place here

Tags: Frédéric Brenner, The New York Times Lens Blog