The Jerusalem Post

Israeli born and bred

The Israel Museum showcases Ya’akov Shofar’s seminal Black Panther photograph­s

- • By ARIEL DOMINIQUE HENDELMAN

The Israel Museum is currently featuring two concurrent photograph­ic exhibits. Both provide intimate looks into immigrant communitie­s whose circumstan­ces represent a chapter in Israel’s history. Ron Amir’s Doing Time in Holot presents images and video documentin­g the lives of Sudanese and Eritrean asylum seekers being held in the Holot Detention Center. Ya’akov Shofar’s “Born In Israel” is a collection of 30 black and white photograph­s taken between 1978 and 1982 and depicting the Israeli Black Panthers, a group of second-generation Jewish immigrants from Arab countries. In honor of the museum’s 50th anniversar­y, Shofar gifted the entire collection to the museum. The collection was previously shown once at the Haifa Museum of Art in 1983. Both exhibition­s are on view until April 22. Shofar sat down with The Jerusalem Post to discuss Israel in the 1970s, the New Deal and how photograph­s capture the soul.

What was going on in Israel during the five years that you took these photos?

It was a terrible time in our country. On the one hand, if I was a psychiatri­st, I would say it was a people suffering from manic depression. We started the 1970s thinking that Moshiach was coming, after the 1967 War when Jerusalem was ours. On the other hand, we started the 1970s with a lot of terrorism and the Yom Kippur War. There was not one year that we didn’t have a dramatic security situation at Ben Gurion Airport. There was the kidnapping and killing at the Olympics in Munich. But during this time period, we also had Maccabee Tel Aviv taking the championsh­ip and an Israeli woman won Miss Universe.

The Black Panthers starting demonstrat­ing in 1971. The government and Israeli society were terrified by these demonstrat­ions. There was a lot of money put into the immigratio­n of Russian Jews and the Black Panthers felt neglected. They weren’t given a chance to build themselves or enter into the modern life. In order to survive, a lot of them were gangsters who stole, sold drugs and used drugs. I started to work on this project when I was at [the] Bezalel Academy of Art [and Design in Jerusalem]. We had an assignment centering around the slogan “how the other half lives.” It was based on an American photograph­ic concept of looking at neighborho­ods and investigat­ing how we can express it in photograph­s. I remained in this project for five years.

I moved in 1988 to Kibbutz Ein Hashofet, where I still live today. In Hebrew, it means “the judge.” The judge in this case is Louis Brandeis. If I’m looking back in history, it’s connected to photograph­y and to the New Deal. In order to pass the New Deal, they [...] took 20 of the best photograph­ers from America and sent them to rural areas, where bad weather and poverty created a lot of damage for a huge population of farmers. They were trying to pass laws in America in order to support these people. Brandeis, as a Jew, tried to help the president to pass the right laws for the New Deal. I took the ideas of these 20 photograph­ers. They were the influence for my work. Being a part of a kibbutz that is named after Brandeis was coming full circle for me.

So your motivation for “Born In Israel” was more than just artistic?

Yes, I had good connection­s with social workers and people who tried to support the Black Panthers here in Israel. The social workers helped me get connected to them. I visited them in jail. Basically, once a week, I was part of them. I would talk and make good contacts with them. I watched as they learned that they had to get more organized and put pressure on the government to get what they wanted. They met Golda Meir in 1971. The result was not so good. After that, they were being arrested and their lives were miserable. I found them to be great, suffering people. They told me the stories of their lives, that I recorded. There are hundreds of hours of stories that are now in the Israel Museum’s collection, as well as 320 photograph­s. I gave them all. When you look at these photograph­s, you see a whole generation of people who wore [their emotions] on their faces all the time. I’m very pleased with the photograph­s. It shows how open they were to me. I really loved them. They trusted me because I never gave up. I went every week for five years. I became a part of the environmen­t. I’m not an activist; I didn’t go with them to demonstrat­ions. My philosophy was that I wanted to meet them in an intimate way in order to express their souls.

Did you feel sympatheti­c to their cause?

Of course, they are very sensitive and you cannot fool them. You can’t approach them if they don’t trust you. Trust doesn’t mean that I had to agree with every word that they said, but at least to listen and give respect. I met people who were very violent, selling and using drugs, stealing. But it was because of their situation and it doesn’t mean that they are not human beings. In order for them to be able to share with me the most intimate dialogue, which is to take a picture. When you are taking a photograph, you are taking the soul of a person to some extent. They knew that I was coming from academia and that I was not going to sell the pictures. Because I felt sympatheti­c, I got these results.

It’s amazing that it all started as a school assignment.

Yes, in 1976, a project for advanced students. For me, it was a door to a very deep project for many years. I received the Israel Young Photograph­y Prize in 1983. I was very young. I started this work when I was 30 and I was 36 when I received that prize. In 1984, I [put together] a book that had the same title. Later on, I decided not to continue photograph­y profession­ally. I had five kids and I started to work in a factory as a business developmen­t manager. In 2014, Bezalel celebrated 30 years of their photograph­y department and all of the teachers and alumni were invited. They had a poster of my work displayed. When I left, my friends from 30 years ago suggested that I offer the work to the Israel Museum.

Were you aware at the time when you were involved with this project how significan­t it was?

I had a lot of motivation to make something that told a story through pictures. Looking back is different because I have the perspectiv­e now. When you make art, you never know what will be the influence. You think about being accurate, technical issues, emotions, and creating the best work that you can. I went on my intuition a lot. At that time, it was an experiment really. I went to find new things, make new contacts. It was a trip!

For more info on ‘Born in Israel’ visit www. imj.org.il

 ?? (Courtesy) ?? ‘WHEN YOU are taking a photograph, you are taking the soul of a person to some extent... I had a lot of motivation to make something that told a story through pictures,’ says veteran Israeli photograph­er Ya’akov Shofar.
(Courtesy) ‘WHEN YOU are taking a photograph, you are taking the soul of a person to some extent... I had a lot of motivation to make something that told a story through pictures,’ says veteran Israeli photograph­er Ya’akov Shofar.
 ?? (Ya’akov Shofar) ?? IMAGES FROM the exhibit ‘Born in Israel, 1978-1982.’
(Ya’akov Shofar) IMAGES FROM the exhibit ‘Born in Israel, 1978-1982.’
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