zooming in on pain

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Zooming in on Pain

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A pastoral sunset, a flower near the bay, an empty bench by the beach. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. An exhibit at RHCC of photographs by terror victims expresses the pain of those who remained silent until today

Seventeen victims of terror from Haifa and northern Israel took part in a unique photography workshop, in which they learned to express themselves through the camera lens. The workshop, which continued for three months, was led by the Haifa photographer Gustavo Hochman. It was initiated by the hospital’s Social Services Unit, which, for years, has supported the injured and the families of those killed. Funding was provided by the non-profit organization, Operation Embrace.
On July 14, 2010, four years after the outbreak of the Second Lebanon War, Rambam Health Care Campus opened an exhibition of 36 photographs by workshop participants.

For the workshop leader, photographer Gustavo Hochman, this course represented a difficult personal journey. Hochman was serving as a press photographer on October 4, 2003, when a suicide bomber broke the calm of a Shabbat afternoon, and blew herself up at Haifa’s Maxim Restaurant. Twenty one Jews and Arabs were killed in the attack, which claimed the lives of entire families.

One of the largest-scale terrorist attacks ever to hit Israel, the bombing appeared headlines for days afterward. The photographs of the killed and injured, some by Gustavo Hochman, cried out from the newspaper pages. The pictures captured the pain that the victims’ loved ones – some of whom were severely injured themselves – carry with them to this day.
Seven years later, Gustavo closed a circle by returning to those he photographed as their world collapsed. He gave them a tool for coping with their inner pain, constant as a photograph that holds a moment forever.

The photography workshop is one of many activities offered to project participants. According to Gustavo, the process is involved, and raises buried feelings among participants. “Photography is an intimate act. When it turns into a tool for expressing trauma, the feelings flood you,” he says. “Some participants couldn’t stand to see flashes, which reminded them of explosions. Some began to photograph everything. With time, the photography connected us and made us close friends. As one who photographed them in the most difficult moments, I also underwent a significant emotional and spiritual process here.”

“Photography lets these people see the world and themselves differently. It adds new color, balance and angles of vision,” says Social Worker Pnina Migdal-Lahav, who accompanied the workshop. “I saw people who lost their entire families express their feelings through photography. The photography extracted things they thought could never come out.”

“From the place the words end, we must offer terror victims means of expression,” says Roni Gagin, director of social services at RHCC. “By presenting the fruits of the workshop, we embraced the participants and let them close the circle themselves, rather than by doing it for them.”