For the past five years, Gillian Laub has photographed the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Haïfa, Tel Aviv, Ramallah, Hebron, and other locations in the region. Her subjects are Israeli Jews, Israeli Arabs, displaced Lebanese families, and Palestinians - each personally affected by the geopolitical context in which they live. Each portrait is accompanied by commentary from the subjects. Resilience, pride, defiance, anger, vulnerability - and most astonishing of all, optimism - emerge from one statement to the next. Author David Rieff has said of Laub's work, 'The bravery of the photos is that they... [do] not seek to turn the people portrayed into types or leech them of their beliefs or prejudices - of their human specificity. To consider [these] images is to be reminded not just of human cruelty and human stupidity but also of human tenacity.' Renowned author Ariella Azoulay and Palestinian-Israeli civil rights lawyer Raef Zreik each contribute essays that further consider the nuances, contradictions, and ultimately, hope for a peaceful resolution to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
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