Surrounding – Her - We Were Born Here

Through Other Eyes 2017 presents:

We Were Born Here''

A Photography Exhibition

The exhibition "We Were Born Here" presents a unique view through the lens of the camera of the joint youth group of the 2017 Through Other Eyes program, into the lives of Arab and Jewish youth just before they become adults in
Israeli society.

During the year the joint group learned the secrets of photography and the power

 of a picture to convey a message. Later, they went together to the surrounding

 areas and communities and were hosted in the homes of the participants,

while getting to know their families.

The exhibition "We Were Born Here" presents a photographic study of the central
themes that concern the group regarding the similarities and differences between
the two societies: honor, relationships and family relations, beauty in difference,
tradition, culture and customs.

One of the central insights that the group reached during the process was that the land and the sense of belonging to the place were shared by both sides.

"We Were Born Here" conveys a message: for both Jews and Arabs, this is the

 picture of our reality, which indicates that we must accept each other's existence

on this earth, to respect and recognize each other's world; To see, to cope with,

to accept and agree that the land is shared by all of us - here we were born!

Through this unique shared perspective, the exhibitors ask viewers to set aside

 not only the common stereotypes and stigmas attributed to each culture,

but also those that we do not always recognize within ourselves, but are found

in each and every one of us, the result of separate education and separate lives.

 They are asking us to bring genuine openness to a new statement.

Rama Yazme, Rauf Abu Fani

Program facilitators

Through Others’ Eyes - Women 2017 Presents:

'Surrounding – Her'

Through Others’ Eyes is a photography project that aims to enable a group of Arab and Jewish women to get to know each other’s culture through creativity, learning, and shared experiences.

Throughout the program, the group met photographers from Israel and from abroad, learned about the camera, and experienced creating images that tell a story. The meetings included visits to the homes of the participants, a personal meeting with an artist, and a visit to a photography exhibition.

During the course there were sessions dealing with women’s issues, culture, family, and our surroundings. These sessions revealed similar and different worlds and became the raw materials of the exhibition: opposites intertwined on the same plot of land.

The subject of our surroundings emerged as the main issue: space, landscape, that part of the world, which we all love, prevailed through the lens of the camera.

And in that environment we highlight different facets of female representation.

In the history of art, women were traditionally situated in domestic spheres-- in the role of hostess, or performing tasks related to the kitchen. But as women find their place within the arts those locations tend to change as well.

This exhibition presents women as they go out into the world around them and examine their presence in it. For Arab and Jewish women being in the outside world cannot be limited to issues of gender. It lends way to more general questions about history and ties to the land.

The exhibition illuminates the learning experience.

The meetings and the many questions that came up remained open. There is no ending or summary, but it is a women’s proposal to reexamine our mutual world

Trough Other Women 2017

The Instructors Tamar Shalit Avni, Rauf Abu Fani, Abir Genayem