South West Jeruslaem

Yaakov Israel began photographing the series “Southwest Jerusalem” as his final project for a BFA in Photography at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. As early as his second year of studies, he knew the city interested him as a subject. Over time, he realized that what drew him most were the neighborhoods in which he had grown up during the 1980s and 1990s—and where he continues to live today—in southwest Jerusalem.

In his fourth year, equipped with an 8×10-inch camera, he set out to explore these spaces, focusing both on the sites themselves and on their inhabitants. He photographed portraits of buildings as well as of people.

Israel presented this long-term project in a 2020 exhibition at the street gallery “Jaffa 97” of “Black Box,” a non-profit organization dedicated to disseminating art in the public space of Jerusalem. The project was shown in the large light boxes of “Black Box,” situated between the light rail and the Clal Building in the city center.

At the same time, Israel decided to publish a newspaper featuring photographs from the project alongside a range of texts—from academic essays on the development of workers’ neighborhoods to a short story. The newspaper was printed in a one-time edition of 5,000 copies and distributed in neighborhood centers. And just as each photograph in the project began with Israel gathering curious local residents around him, it also concluded with a kind of performative act, as he and his collaborators distributed the newspaper “Southwest Jerusalem” dressed in branded blue overalls and baseball caps, alongside the stands of Israel Hayom.

The first edition consisted of 5,000 copies, which were distributed free of charge in the neighborhoods where the project was photographed. A second edition of approximately 15,000 copies was distributed free of charge to subscribers of the Haaretz and Makor Rishon newspapers.