Sacred Land: Seeing Israel Through A New Lens

Ralph Gibson
Heller Museum – Hebrew Union College
Jewish Institute of Religion
One West Fourth Street, New York
On view: March 19 – July 8, 2024

The diversity within this sacred land – a multiplicity of ethnicities, faiths, and backgrounds – exudes each being’s essential humanity. One senses that this place is holy to all, across all of the differences that rupture this part of the world. Jean Bloch Rosensaft, Director, Dr. Bernard Heller Museum

In Sacred Land, legendary American photographer Ralph Gibson, and producer Martin Cohen, have created a unique photographic exhibition and publication that capture the soul of Israel, both ancient and contemporary. The photographs convey the fundamental humanity and underlying affinities that connect all who deem this land as sacred, and express aspirations for mutual understanding and peace. At a time when the war and suffering in Israel and Gaza overwhelm us, Gibson’s images offer a compelling and hopeful outlook for the future.

Sacred Land invites us into the eye of the photographer as a first-time visitor to Israel – we see what he sees, what captures his attention. It is in the details, a particular gesture, a candid pose, a fragment, a moment, that we glimpse a deeper meaning. The essence of the images is their intimacy, we are drawn close to people, places, things, the instantaneous and the eternal. Their juxtaposition reveals the convergence of antiquity and modernity.

 more here: huc.edu