Between Presence and Absence / book
Between Presence and Absence
Photographs by Lili Almog
Q and A with Dr. Zvi Effrat 104 pages, 65 color plates
Size 10.5 x 8.75 inches / 27 x 22 cm
Hardcover / Softcover
Emblematic of a Socialist cultural revolution, the kibbutz houses based on Bauhaus architecture reflected the vision of cooperative and egalitarian societies. Their destruction seems invariably symbolic of the demise of an ideology trapped in political turmoil and transformation.
While this project inherently raises geopolitical questions specific to this region, it ultimately speaks to more universal themes of memory and loss, home and belonging, fragility and change. By documenting the impact of a traumatic event over the course of time, I preserve the private and public memories for those connected to it. While there are no people in the frame, their presence can be felt by the traces they left behind.
Between Presence and Absence—comprised of images of exteriors and interiors of these damaged houses—creates both a social and historical record, as well as a poetic and metaphorical impression of destruction and metamorphosis. In turning the spectral into the tangible, this project bares witness to the cycles of life and the passage of time.
