Holylandscape

The myth of the "holylandscape" is shaped over time from its historical truth and ever-changing interpretations. Jerusalem is composed of multiple layers: layers of history, faiths and beliefs, of rulers and subjects, of social complexity. All have left their imprint on the landscape – scarred by centuries of power struggles, and inscribed by the testimony of its inhabitants who discovered in it the roots and wellsprings of their faith.

Being the sixth generation of my family in Israel and the fourth in Jerusalem has shaped my perceptions of the city. On the one hand, I grew up on the historical stories and myths of the land; on the other, I am enthralled by its charm and mystique and the beauty of the landscape.

The creative process and my selection of photography sites were inspired by several sources: Pursuing the myth of Masada in Israeli culture, and its deconstruction over the years; childhood trips to Jerusalem’s Old City and the Holy Sepulcher; and the search for my grandmother’s forebears, and my mother’s stories of finding the shattered tombstones of her grandfather and great-grandmother in the ancient Jewish cemetery on Mount of Olives in 1967 soon after the Six-Day War.

The photographs are testimonies to a landscape, to the events that occurred in it, and to the evidence of the past that is etched in the ancient stone. The pictures expose the layers of history and the faith encapsulated in them. Believing that the sanctification of the land is shaped by the way we look at and relate to it, in my observation of the landscape I sought from my semi -archaeological lens augmented vantage  after the human footprint, always infused by the quest for holiness, and for those sites that arouse in me a sense of sanctity.

Adi Shalmon-Cohen-Exhibition (2.83 MB)