The Photo Album 79-80 (2nd edition) by Igael Shemtov

Photographed in Israel between the years 1979-1980, this extensive body of work depicts trivial events and objects in everyday life. Building on an aesthetic taken from ‘family photos,’ "The Photo Album 1979-1980" attempts to summarize the essence of a place, of a reality, of a given moment in time.

 

During the late 1970’s while working as a quality controller at a Kodak lab in Israel, Igael Shemtov was exposed to vast amounts of family photographs, a genre he set to explore as a marker of Israeli society. Documenting the living environment of the lower middle class, and placing special emphasis on kitsch, Shemtov created images that are telling yet critical at the same time.