WANDERLAND, Israel – Palestine, 29.10.06 – 11.02.07
Curated and edited by Martin Hentschel
Publisher: Kerber Verlag, Kunstmuseen Krefeld, Germany, 2006
ISBN 3-86678-035-4
“I was born in Argentina and immigrated to Israel when I was just 12. I have lived and worked in Israel ever since.
“I consider myself an Israeli but, that doesn’t mean I agree with the way Israel is occupying the territories or acts in Godforsaken communities in the country.
In my work I attempt to portray the image of ”the other”. I do it not only from a critical point of view, but also in an attempt to show their plight and perhaps raise questions, awareness and compassion. Hopefully by looking at the situation and reassessing it we might find new ways to make life better and fairer in order to be able to coexist.
I continue to make weekly trips to the territories for Haaretz newspaper, photographing for a weekly article written by my partner Gideon Levi. For the past 14 years I put emphasis on the everyday reality of the occupation. I believe that the difficult routine of daily life, although less shocking visually, is the main problem. This routine might be less dramatic, but much more important for me to portray.
“As an artist I exhibited my work for the first time in 1988, and since then it is widely shown across Israel and Europe. I have welcomed this progression and moved away from press photography, which in the past allowed me to sidestep the disjunction between the data that the news editor needs and the image you want to show. But though I am content with the attention and increasing international fame, the most important thing to me is that Israelis see my work.
One of the elements found in photography is the personal interpretation each person has, and there are some things that the image can not transmit. In my work I constantly deal with the issue of my position in regards to Benjamin’s question of distance. Inevitably- part of showing the “other” in a conflict is the self-portrait which is created, seeing one through the other.
Regarding the issue of reality- I do not see a necessary link between photography and reality.
“I believe that photography is an interpretation and a tool for criticism. I find the best analogy to photography in the written text, as the camera is much more of a word processor to me, than a tape recorder.
In photography I write my say and not merely collect images.”
Miki Kratsman
August 2006
