HAARETZ: Finding Empathy In The Dark - click to article
In my last post on the Exposure blog, I explored the themes of the longing and belonging, for Israel and family, in the framework of Swedish winter. Since then, we decided to return to Israel after three years in Stockholm, to a place where our children can openly be proud of their identity, and where the words Israeli, Jewish, and Zionist are not whispered.
In the midst of the preparations for our return, we watched in horror as the war with Iran broke out and spread around our family and friends, and we were stunned by the extensive damage it caused. The stress of packing and the thought of moving with our children to Israel under the shadow of war weighed heavily on both of us.
In Sweden, two months of living in my wife’s childhood homes—first with her father and then with her mother—were filled with nostalgia and emotion, and was like taking a step back in time as we prepared to move forward. But it was also a claustrophobic and stressful period, constantly surrounded by family and required an ongoing and often impatient effort to keep the children occupied.
That summer, photography served several purposes for me and helped me get through a tense period full of stress and uncertainty. It connected me to the people around me, especially my children, while at the same time giving me a reason to be alone, to photograph in solitude, away from the demands of family.
Unfortunately, while I was immersed in my own worries, I struggled to respond with sufficient patience and sensitivity to the anxiety and frustration of those closest to me, as we prepared to leave behind the stable anchors of family, friends, and work.
What is not fully understood or appreciated in the moment sometimes reveals itself late at night, when everyone is asleep and I review the day’s photographs. A child’s distress, a partner’s worry, difficult to look at yet impossible to ignore, awaken the empathy that was so deeply needed. From this, too, grows a renewed appreciation for photography’s ability to connect me to the people and places around me.
