Tryst Feature Photographer Itzhak Ben-Arieh

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I was born in 1926 in Geneva of parents from Turkish origin. I completed my studies there in Mechanical Engineering. Since coming to Israel in 1948, I went through a number of stages: I was a member of a kibbutz, a metal worker, a practical engineer, and also a teacher of technological subjects in professional high schools. Only late, at the age of 45, did I discover the magic of photography. I changed my profession and joined the photographic laboratory of the Faculty of Architecture (Technion - Haifa) where I worked for 28 years.

For me, photography as a two-dimensional surface which translates three dimensional reality, created in me a feeling of deficiency. I wanted to express an additional dimension, a fourth, not of time but of spirit: not only in the psychological/philosophical sphere - but something deeper that emerges from the subconscious.

During the course of time, I understood that "association" is the way for me, in which the soul hints at complex contents of awareness. So it became clear to me that the camera by itself with the (objective!) lens, is not objective at all, in the same way that the result, the photograph, is but the personal interpretation of the photographer.

From here the way was short to the medium of photomontage, which is the combination of various elements in one picture. This between them produces interactions, affinity, dialogue and the creation of a new reality. In the same way that the secret of chemistry between two individuals cannot be explained through the intellect, so for me photomontage is the expression of mood, of spirit scenery where all the elements meet: fire, earth, water and air - and woman who contains all these inside her.

In my photomontage photography frequently appears the image of the female nude. This is the subject that corresponds to my sensuality, but also to something deeper that is linked to cosmic nature, to universal mythos and archetypes. Nude photography is in fact a portrait of more intimacy, allowing direct expression, without masks - both of the personality of the model as well as that of the photographer. Woman, more than Man, has roots into life: Eve is the mother of all life! Therefore I agree with the French photographer Jeanloup Sieff who said: "I do not believe in God, but Woman is the proof of His existence."

Usually I do not give titles to my photos. The pictures should speak for themselves. I wish to give the viewer freedom to be face to face with the picture, to be drawn into it, to understand it as he wishes, and to feel the fantasy as his personal reality.

If I want to express the general meaning of my photos, I would say that they express the beauty of life in contrast to the dangers lurking there - and in the feminine generality: the harmony of woman's world opposite the destructive power of man.

I create the pictures first of all for myself. I invest them with all that I have in me: tenderness, fears, sensuality, magic, humor and my dreams. I am aware of the world that I create: a world of fantasy, of legend, illusion and dread, a world of nowhere that is apparently alienated from reality - but reflects like a mirror the being of man.

This mirror I am offering the spectator with love, and I hope that the vibrations arising from my pictures will strike waves also in him.

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