Activestills , livre ebook

Pluto Press

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

321 pages

English

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

In 2005, a group of photographers took a stand alongside the people of the small town of Bil’in, and documented their fight to stop the Israeli government building the infamous West Bank Barrier. Inspired by what they had seen in Bil’in, the group went on to form Activestills, a collective whose work has become vital in documenting the struggle against Israeli occupation and everyday life in extraordinary situations.

Activestills: Photography as Protest in Palestine/Israel examines the collective’s archive and activity from historical, theoretical, critical, and personal perspectives. It is the result of an in-depth dialogue among members of the collective and activists, journalists, intellectuals, and academics, and stands as the definitive study of the collective’s work.

Combining striking full-colour photographs with essays and commentary, Activestills stands as both a major contribution to reportage on Israel/Palestine and a unique collection of visual art.
Foreword by Miki Kratsman

Introduction by Vered Maimon and Shiraz Grinbaum

1. Active - Gadi Algazi, Jehan Al Farra, Simon Faulkner, Ruthie Ginsburg, Haggai Matar and Ramzy Baroud

2. Stills - Vered Maimon, Ariella Azoulay, Sharon Silwinski, Thomas Keenan and Meir Wigoder

Sujets

Collections photographiques

Gaza

Reportage

Israël

General

Palestine

Journalism

Photography

West Bank

General officer

Photojournalism

Israel and the apartheid analogy

Israel

News

Collections

Catalogs

Exhibitions

Informations

Publié par	Pluto Press
Date de parution	20 octobre 2016
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781786800107
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	77 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,6250€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Activestills
Photography as Protest in Palestine/Israel
Editors: Vered Maimon and Shiraz Grinbaum
Graphic editing and design: Studio Gimel2
Translations from Hebrew and text editing: Sharon Assaf
Trom Arabic: Deema Darawshy
Cover photo: A protest marking Nakba day (”Day of Catastrophe”),
outside the Ofer military prison, West Bank, 15.5.2012 (detail)
Pluto Press Team
Copy-editing: Jeanne Brady
Proofreading and index: Susan Curran
Production and management: Kerrie Barlow and Robert Webb
First published 2016 by Pluto Press
345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
www.plutobooks.com
Copyright © Vered Maimon and Shiraz Grinbaum 2016
The right of the individual contributors to be identifed as the authors
of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7453 3669 5 Paperback
ISBN 978 1 7868 0010 7 PDF eBook
Front images, Activestills street exhibitions:
1. Bil’in, West Bank, 23.2.2007 / 2. Tel Aviv, 10.5.2007 / 3. Tel Aviv, 5.1.2015 / 4. Haifa, Israel, 13.5.2007 / 5. Tel Aviv, 21.11.2007 /
6. Negev Desert, Israel, 25.1.2014 / 7. Negev Desert, Israel, 30.7.2010 / 8. Anata, East Jerusalem, 5.6.2007 / 9. Tel Aviv, 11.5.2007Activestills
Photography as Protest
in Palestine/Israel
Edited by
Vered Maimon and Shiraz GrinbaumAll the photographs in this book are signed collectively
by Activestills members.
Tis book is dedicated to all the
communities, groups, and activists
that invited us to take part
in their struggle.Contents
024 Foreword Miki Kratzman
028 Introduction Vered Maimon and Shiraz Grinbaum
Part I Active Part II Stills
044 Activestills’ Photographic Archive: 182 Surviving Images and Images of Survival:
A Common Treasure Ariella Azoulay On Activestills’ Photographs of Protest
Vered Maimon
058 Distributing Dissents: Activestills and
Alternative Israeli Media Haggai Matar 196 Communities of Touch: Photography’s Spaces
of Appearance Meir Wigoder
066 The Middle East and New Media: The Challenge
and the Opportunity Ramzy Baroud 206 Before the Law Sharon Sliwinski
074 Contentious Displays: Activestills’ 214 Being There Ruthie Ginsburg
Street Exhibitions Simon Faulkner
Photographers’ Texts
Conversations 232 Ahmad Al-Bazz
090 Zehava Greenfeld 244 Faiz Abu Rmeleh
096 Nariman Tamimi 258 Tess Schefan
104 Hakmih Abu Mdı ¯gim and Salim Abu Mdı ¯gim 264 Anne Paq
110 Issa Amaro 270 Basel Alyazouri
278 Yotam Ronen
282 Ryan Rodrick Beiler
Activists’ Texts 288 Keren Manor
120 Abdallah Abu Rahmah 292 Shachaf Polakow
130 Monim Mandela 296 Oren Ziv
136 Reuven Abergel
142 Carmen Elmakiyes
Epilogue 146 Chen Misgav
306 Sarit Michaeli152 Lilach Ben David
160 Adi Winter
164 Santiago Gomez 310 Contributors
312 Photographers
315 Acknowledgments
Index316 024
Foreword
Miki Kratsman
When I started teaching photojournalism at the working in a dwindling photojournalism market. In 2005,
Geographic Photography College in Tel Aviv back in my eighth year of teaching, a new photographic practice
1997, the local news feld was in the middle of a crisis. It began to make its way into the classroom: a group of
was only fve years since Hadashot, the groundbreaking third-year students started bringing photos to class that
newspaper that had set a new standard for the profession they had taken at the weekly Friday protests against the
and had been a key player in the articulation of Israeli Israeli separation wall, which were being staged in the
photojournalism, had closed its doors. Hadashot drew West Bank village of Bil’in. While it was understandable
on the photographic tradition of the local newspapers in that the students would travel together to the occupied
Israel, such as Tel Aviv’s Ha’ir and Jerusalem’s Kol Ha’ir, Palestinian territories rather than go separately, there was
which were characterized by photography that was not something new in their photos that had begun to coalesce
committed to or dependent upon text. It also succeeded over time. Over the course of that year, the students—
in establishing a dedicated group of photojournalists Oren Ziv, Yotam Ronen, and Keren Manor—together with
who viewed their work in the light of social and political the Argentinean photographer Eduardo Soteras, created a
responsibility. Although this approach was not spelled photography collective under the name ”Activestills.”
out explicitly, and did not necessarily hold true for all of In the photographs, I could see a relationship
the group’s members, it was the dominant attitude of the forming between my students and the demonstrators,
newspaper’s core photojournalists. Palestinians and Israelis from the Anarchists Against the
As a lecturer at the Geographic Photography Wall group. Such relationships are rare in conventional
College at that time, I needed to help my students who photojournalism. Furthermore, the students became part
had dreamed about working in something bigger than a of the protest and, in that position, it became appropriate
local newspaper come to terms with the hard truths of for them to photograph other photographers who were Miki Kratsman 025
also present at the same event. The act of reexamining for their livelihood. They are truly bringing the term
the position of the photojournalist in an event was both ”freelance,” or ”free-lens,” back to its original meaning.
interesting and challenging, especially when viewed in light In another challenge to traditional photojournalism
of the recent Iraq War, during which the very institution practice, they choose to present their materials in the
of journalism had been put to the test and failed. The Iraq same communal public spaces where they photographed.
War was not the frst time photojournalists were forced This is an exceptional strategy, since the people being
to examine the power relations between themselves and photographed for newspapers often do not have access
the establishment and question who had the right to to the media outlets that cover them. This strategy also
determine the boundaries of the freedom of information. has an aesthetic aspect. While most photographers
In contrast to journalistic writing, photojournalism requires envision their work printed in large scale, on quality paper,
a constant repositioning of oneself in the feld, in real time, framed behind glass, and exhibited in some contemporary
as well as examining the political forces that allow one to photography gallery, the Activestills photojournalists
be a photographer in a particular place and position, which continue to imagine their photos in a size not exceeding
leads to questions such as: Which side should I stand on? A3, unframed, and glued, pinned, or taped on to a wall.
What are the political structures that make my presence Activestills photographers thought of their work from the
in a specifc territory possible? Activestills photographers beginning as a tool for social and political change. The
decided to stand with the protesters in Bil’in and position collective’s drive and idiosyncratic practices anticipated
themselves in the feld within the boundaries that the the rise of the smartphone and digital photography as
protesters determined. The choice to stand with the mobilizing tools on social media.
protesters rather than behind the soldiers neutralized Activestills have not just survived, they have grown
any control the ruling power may have had on their in a decade that has witnessed the switch from negative
photographic act. It was important for me to understand flm to Twitter and seen cooperation between Israelis and
that this was an ideological position that preceded the Palestinians reach an all-time low. This has been possible
journalistic position, and that it would engage every aspect only because of the commitment of all the members to
of their work. work jointly—the occupier and the occupied—based on
Photojournalism has traditionally relied on a clear political stance against the Israeli occupation, to
the circulation of its product through news agencies observe and photograph the act of occupation itself.
and related media outlets. In the 1940s, freelance After following the collective’s work for a decade,
photographers would dash from the scene of an event in 2015 I joined Activestills. For over three decades as a
to news desks in a bid to be the frst to sell their wares. press photographer, I was lucky to be able to choose my
Later, agency-affliated photojournalists from agencies own subjects. Now I have the chance to act and witness
such as Associated Press and Reuters could rely on wide from within, and never before did I feel as close to those I
circulation through the teleprinters that were installed in photographed as I have over these last years.
newspaper headquarters. This new technology displaced Activestills members maintain an ongoing
the intimate familiarity that photojournalists had once relationship with the communities they photograph and
shared with newspaper editorial boards. In a certain their struggles. This creates a kind of partnership and
sense, digital circulation methods continue to maintain intimacy that goes beyond journalistic coverage. Every so
the same ”disconnection” between the photojournalist often, it is not the photographers who are initiating the
and media outlets. Activestills photographers have coverage; rather they are invited by the communities to
made the ideological and ethical choice to disseminate join their actions as photographers. Activestills realized
their materials through media with which they identify in practice, before the support and also the disruption
politically, such as Local Call and +972 Magazine, or that technology would bring, the affnity between the
through nongovernmental organizations. Though they producers, subjects, distributors, and recipients of
do