My trip to Israel was a bit unfamiliar, as I have never tried a charter trip before. Everything was planned from morning to evening, which meant I could not walk around and immerse myself in the area with my camera. Instead, I had to shoot the best I had learned, and if I did not get the motive, bad luck. Unreasonable artistic conditions, one might say. But also an exciting challenge. I had to have my finger on the trigger if I wanted some pictures.
When I looked at the selection of pictures I had shot, it seemed somewhat messy. Usually, I strive for a reasonably uniform expression throughout the series (I hope you can see that in my other series). But it did not succeed here. After some deliberation, it became clear to me that it corresponded very well to my experience of the country.
Israel is full of contrasts. Ultra-modern constructions and thousand-year-old ruins. Amicable and welcoming people, and very unsympathetic ditto. Intrusive street vendors and noisy silence in the desert, and so on. In a way, a description of the country must be messy to embrace just a little bit of the incredible diversity.
The picture of Multi Madonna is ten different versions of “Mary with the little Jesus child”, put together into one image. The original footage is from the Annunciation Church in Nazareth. The world’s nations have given their proposals on what Mary and Jesus may look like.