Biblical Heroes in Dire Straits
Israeli photographer Adi Nes began his latest series, Biblical Stories, at a moment of crisis in his own life. “I just ended a long-term relationship; I was alone with no money, no apartment, no job. The economic situation was very bad in Israel; most of my friends were unemployed. Also, my father passed away,” he said in an interview with the Forward. “I chose the Bible as a framework for this series because, at a time when everything was breaking apart, I was looking for my roots.”
Nes, a gay man raised in a conservative Sephardic home, said he wanted to “work with people who lost their identity,” using “biblical heroes with issues of their home.” To emphasize this message, he staged Israeli actors dressed as homeless people as a way to appeal to viewers’ hearts. An exhibit of the work opens today at the Tel Aviv Museum.
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