For four decades Vivienne Silver-Brody has collected photographs of Palestine Eretz Israel
taken from the nineteenth century until the turn of the 21st creating a multi-faceted
photographic narrative of the land. This book presents some three hundred of the most striking
photographs in her collection and includes a comprehensive narration of the history of local
photography and the unique story of her collection. This is both a tale of many people with
shared historical backgrounds relating to the land and a showcase of the potential within
photography to encompass the very fabric of life. The diversified perspectives landscapes
portraits lifestyles dress traditions and customs manifest in this album bring to life the
history of photography of this land which is one shared by the peoples that call it home. For
the last section of the book Silver-Brody invited sixty individuals-photographers scholars
artists curators and collectors from different religious cultural and national
backgrounds-to choose a single photograph from her collection and to write a short essay
relating to it. These texts together offer a fascinating and wide-ranging narrative thus
adding significant historical relevance. A unique voice that reaches beyond
politics and religion Presents a photographic history of the Land of Israel as a shared
place rather than as disputed territory Photographs by Yaacov Ben Dov Alfons Himmelreich
Hanna Safieh Drora Spitz Moi Ver among others
