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Over 100 Israel-based photographers collaborated to create “The Southern Album,” a new exhibit at the Petah Tikva Museum of Art, showcasing the history of the Western Negev region from the 1950s through the atrocities of October 7. The exhibit, which debuted last week, will last for six months — a deviation from the usual four-month-long exhibits the museum hosts. Featuring 150 series of photographs, installations, and texts, the exhibit narrates the story of southern Israel before and after the carried out by Hamas terrorists.

In addition to the exhibit itself, the museum will host workshops and lectures with some of the photographers visiting to speak about the intersection of photography today and trauma. The exhibit was organized by Prof. Dana Arieli, who said she started the project as a way to commemorate her friend Gideon Pauker from Kibbutz Nir Oz, who was murdered on October 7, less than a week before his 80th birthday.



“When something’s traumatic, you have to work or do something,” Arieli said. Arieli got started by posting on Facebook in hopes of connecting with others who would be interested in doing a commemorative exhibit post-October 7. She soon received nearly 200 portfolios of interested photographers.

Through Arieli’s work, “The Southern Album” developed into three formats: a Facebook diary, a printed book of photographs and essays, and the current exhibition. One photographer, Miki Kratsman, shared his October 7 story in the exhibit. Krats.

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