Local Testimony is a regional photojournalism exhibition for photographers from Israel and the Palestinian Authority, held every year since 2003 in the Eretz Israel Museum.[1]
The exhibition is held alongside the World Press Photo exhibition, presenting photographs from the field of photojournalism.[2]
The photographs in the exhibition are selected by a panel of judges. Photographs are divided into several categories. Three images are selected in each category: first, second and third place. In addition to categories, Photo of the Year and Series of the Year are chosen by the jury.[3] [4]
One of the categories is Religion and Faith, which traditionally includes photographs reflecting life of the Jewish ultra-orthodox community.[5]
The exhibition was established by Dana Wohlfeiler-Lalkin, who has been the manager of the project since.
Local Testimony established the Frames of Reality project in 2008 in collaboration with Peres Center for Peace. The project is to bring together Israeli and Palestinian photojournalists and documentary photographers to promote coexistence and mutual understanding. The project includes workshops, meetings and lectures.[6]
| Contest year | Photographer - Photo of the year | Photo of the Year | Photographer - Series of the year | Series of the Year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Michael Krame | The sister of Staff Sergeant Oren Tzelnick salutes his grave. | Not awarded | Not awarded | |
| 2004 | Barkay Wolfson | The Philadelphi Route. | Not awarded | Not awarded | |
| 2005 | Natan Dvir | The year of the disengagement | Not awarded | Not awarded | |
| 2006 | Pavel Wolberg | August 4, 2006, ten days before the ceasefire. Katyushas made a direct hit on a private car, setting it afire, on a street in Kiryat Shmonah. | Yoav Galai | Combat-engineering soldiers wounded the village of Inta, while they were preparing field clinic. | |
| 2007 | Natan Dvir | Nai'm Eli'am, Palestinian resident of Jabalia Refugee Camp waiting at Erez Checkpoint with the body of his three-month old son, who died after treatment of congenital defect at Tel-HaShomer Hospital. | Rina Castelnuovo | Garbage Trap | |
| 2008 | Muhammed Muheisen | A Palestinian youth runs to avoid tear gas grenades fired to disperse a demonstration against the separation barrier in Bil'in. | Felix Lupa | Homeless | |
| 2009 | Kobi Gideon | Israel military forces blowing up a Palestinian house in the northern part of the Gaza Strip during the IDF operation. | Moti Milrod | Checkpoints - every morning, thousands of Palestinians arrive at IDF checkpoints on their way to work in Israel. They arrive there at about 3:00AM and often spend hours waiting outdoors, without shelter. | |
| 2010 | Daniel Bar-On | A demonstration following the Gaza Flotilla events in front of the Turkish Embassy on Hayarkon Street, Tel Aviv. | Amit Sha’al | Altneuland - a journey in the steps of old black and white photographs. | |
| 2011 | Ilia Yefimovich | An Israeli motorist runs down a Palestinian youth while trying to escape a group of youngsters that had hurled stones at Israeli cars in Silwan, | Yuval Tebol | Leading figures in the tent city protest | |
| 2012 | Ben Kelmer | A social protest movement activist, Moshe Silman, who set himself alight during the demonstration that marked a year to the tent city protest, Kaplan Street, Tel Aviv. | Lihee Avidan | Rooms. A thriving industry of prostitution takes place in 300 apartments in the area of the old bus station in Tel Aviv and other apartments in Gush Dan . | |
| 2013 | Miriam Alster | The Rosh Hodesh Tamuz prayer of the Women of the Wall guarded by the police. | Uriel Sinai | Residents of the southern localities during Operation Pillar of Defense. | |
| 2014 | Yuval Chen | The girlfriend of Guy Algranati, a 20-years-old Maglan fighter, standing over his grave, surrounded by his fellow unit members, at the Kiryat Shaul Military Cemetery. | Daniel Tchetchik | Sunburn. The Israeli sunlight is a hot, scorching light, sparking our deepest passions. | |
| 2015 | Menahem Kahana | Palestinian women dismayed at the sight of the house of the Dawabsheh family. Duma village, south of Nablus, 3 August 2015 | Kobi Wolf | The Jordan Valley - A Firing Zone | |
| 2016 | Ronen Zvulun | Natan Meir, husband of the late Dafna Meir, surrounded by his children and relatives, at the mother's funeral services. Dafna was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist who infiltrated her settlement and stabbed her to death.Otniel, southern part of Mount Hebron, 8 January 2016 | Tali Mayer | Portraits of victims of sponge bullets, known as the "black sponge bullet" (model 4557), made of synthetic rubber. | |
| 2017 | Noam Moskowitz | Evacuation of Amona. Security forces break open the synagogue doors. Amona, 2 February 2017 | Ziv Koren | Operational activity of the Israeli Police special counter terror unit (Yamam) | |
| 2018 | Olivier Fitoussi | MK Oren Hazan takes a selfie with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and coalition members after a nightly vote on the Nationality Law, after passing the Knesset. | Barry Talis | Private moments of a religious and ecstatic experience during ceremonies and rituals. | |
| 2019 | Ofer Vaknin | Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, at the presentation of his party’s list of candidates for the second election campaign of 2019. | Eyal Fried | The influence of humans and their actions on the local landscape. |