1993 - 1994

The Akehurst Gallery

THE ANGLO-ISRAELI PHOTOGRAPHIC AWARDS

Sandra Jacobs had a dream. This dream was to set up a photographic scheme to encourage contacts, knowledge and understanding between both the artistic and the wider communities in Israel and England through the medium of photography. Sandra's dream came true. She was left a legacy, which now forms the basis of a trust, established to fund the exchanges.

The Anglo-Israeli Photographic Awards presents the work of two British and two Israeli photographers who were awarded bursaries in 1993 to photograph for a month in each other's countries. They are the first group to participate in this exchange scheme, which will now become a yearly event.

A Broken Trough (Verdi Yahooda )

This is a photographic tribute to the memory of Verdi Yahooda's grandparents. Motivated by a personal history of migration, Verdi went to look at the Aden community, who settled in the newly established State of Israel to escape Arab oppression in Aden. She sought out members of the older generation, who, like her grandparents, would have memories of Aden and found a group of survivors who displayed dignity, generosity and great humor. Finding a very similar community to the one she knew so well in London, Verdi found herself referring to the old adage that says; sometimes one has to travel far to seek that which lies on your doorstep.

The British presence in Jerusalem (Sally Francis)

Sally Francis' imagery gives us clues to an era past - an era when a dominant British presence was to be found in Jerusalem. Sally has attempted to capture both the atmosphere and the ideology of what remains of this past presence in a Jerusalem of the 90's. Her images allow us to glimpse how the British played a part in shaping Jerusalem's culture, society and politics, with their post boxes, hospitals, schools and churches.

A Jewish Homosexual Community (Naomi Talisman & Adi Ness)

Contrary to their expectations Naomi Talisman and Adi Ness found a homosexual Jewish 'Life' in London that lacked the connotations of the gay 'Community' they expected. As an outsider, Naomi's chief concern was to avoid imposing her subjective and prejudiced ideas to prove preconceived assumptions, whilst Adi found the people he photographed were in fact reshaping his own identity as a homosexual and a Jew. By including themselves in the pictures, they sought to create a dialogue between Israeli homosexuals and their London counterparts. They also wished to show that the additional need of Jewish gays in London to deal with questions of religion and culture in fact serves to produce a far more varied homosexual life in London than in Tel Aviv.

The Wandering Jew (Avshalom Gadalov)

This is a photographic installation by . The subject is Ina, whom he first met in 1987 when he rented a room in her house during a stay in London. The work deals with the concept of homeland, and although it is presented as a portrait, it is not merely a personal portrait of a London Jew. It rather reflects a historic and existential condition of the entire Jewish National - wherever it may be.

The above information has bean taken from the artists statements.