YAEL BEN-ZION | 5683 Miles Away

YAEL BEN-ZION | 5683 Miles Away

“All images were made in Israel using a medium-format film camera between 2004 and 2008. And although more than a decade has passed since they were made, not much has changed. If anything, life just got more complicated.
I am curious to see how the images will correspond with other images from the Middle East. I hope that looking at them in this context will allow for a more subtle reading of this complex region.”
– Yael Ben-Zion

5683 miles is the distance between Tel Aviv and New York. From this distance, Yael Ben-Zion has been looking back at her homeland, considering the meaning of “normal life” in this charged place. In repeated visits to Israel, Ben-Zion created nuanced and layered images that capture the texture of Israelis’ day-to-day life.

While personal and intimate in nature, the photographs allude to the complexity of Israel’s political climate and question its emotional and social consequences. Rather than providing answers, 5683 miles away offers a poetic reflection on the way people spend their lives.
The project was published by Kehrer and exhibited in the US and Israel. It was selected as one of photo-eye’s Best Books of 2010 and for the PDN Photo Annual 2011. It was also a nominee for the German Photo Book Award 2011.

YAEL BEN-ZION

Yael Ben-Zion is a socially engaged visual artist and educator working primarily in photography.
Her work draws on personal narratives, or hints thereof, to reflect on the complexities of social and political issues. Yael’s practice consists of long-term lens-based projects that involve extensive research and continuing collaboration with her subjects, on or off camera. Yael was born in Minneapolis, MN and raised in Israel. She is a graduate of the International Center of Photography’s General Studies Program.

Prior to taking up photography, Yael had a diverse legal career which included pursuing LL.M. and J.S.D. degrees at the Yale Law School. It was at Yale that she took her first formal photography class.

Yael’s work has been exhibited in the United States, Europe and Israel. In 2007, her photograph Crash was selected for the cover of American Photography 23. Yael’s first monograph, 5683 miles away (Kehrer, 2010), was selected as one of photo-eye’s Best Books of 2010 and for the PDN Photo Annual 2011.

It was also a nominee for the German Photo Book Award 2011. Intermarried, her second monograph with Kehrer, was selected for American Photography 30 and featured, among others, in the NY Times Sunday Review, PDN Magazine and the Forward.

Read the full article on Lens Magazine Issue #71