The panoramas were photographed in parts. Each frame focuses on a limited section of the imaginary course extending between the two boundaries of the village. Amir positions the tripod, takes a photograph, and moves on to the next spot. In the time it takes to move between spots, reality does not stand still: figures move from one frame to the next, interfering with the fixating, “all-seeing” reading associated with panoramic photography.

One such reference point stands out the length of Jisr a-Zarqa’s rural landscape: the earth embankment on the right-hand side of two of the panoramas. The hill located on the border of Caesarea and Jisr was erected in 2002 through a unilateral initiative of Caesarea inhabitants. While the latter regard it as a wall protecting them from both noise and theft, the villagers perceive it as a racial separation wall. The barrier separating one of Israel’s wealthiest settlements from one of its poorest villages exemplifies the extensive use of fences, embankments, and walls in Israel as means of separation, “clearing” undesirable elements from the rich man’s field of vision. Six years have passed between the first photograph, documenting the embankment several months after its construction, and the last photograph taken this year. Previously a mere scar in the landscape, the hill has been planted with vegetation, and today it integrates organically into the landscape, as if the topography had never been different.

Ron Amir was born in Israel, 1973. Lives and works in Israel.

Less Reading...