The fish eye

Artist Statement

I grew up in Pardes Hanna, a small and traditional rural community. I am homosexual and even though my father is of Mizrahi (Oriental) origin, in my family I have always been stereotypically categorized as Ashkenazi “white”. In my photography practice I deal with relations of power between men. I usually choose to shoot strangers, men who belong to the modeling world, and I use my camera to try to produce images of masculinity. The images and situations I choose originate in my own family cosmos. I translate them into a glamorous collection of perennial images.

The work shows my complicated relationship with my father and my couple-like complicity with my mother. My strategy in the face of family conflict is to photograph straight men. Indeed the vast majority of the men I photograph are not homosexuals and most of them participated without fully comprehending the significance of posing for my project, many times in physical proximity to other men.

The photographs are the result of the dynamics that unfolds on the day of the shooting. I try to capture the tension between us, the gender weirdness, the feelings that come up during our conversations and the sense of closeness this sometimes generates.

Lives and works in Tel Aviv. Graduted Bezalel Academy of Arts adn Design in 2020.