Magnum panel debate highlights PhotoVoice’s Side by Side project:

Photographic dialogue between Palestinian and Israeli teenagers

On 11 July 2007, broadcaster and author Charles Glass will chair the third PhotoVoice Magnum Photographers’ Lecture. He will be joined by Magnum correspondent Micha Bar-Am and two members of The Families Forum - a network of over 400 Israeli and Palestinian bereaved families dedicated to pursuing peace and dialogue as an end to the Arab-Israeli Conflict.

The event, part of PhotoVoice’s Magnum Photographers Lecture Series at the Royal Geographical Society, will be accompanied by an exhibition of work from PhotoVoice’s Side-by-Side project which is being run in partnership with The Families Forum.

Side-by-Side is an ambitious six-month photographic dialogue project between seven Israelis and seven Palestinian teenagers who have lost family members in the ongoing conflict.  Through a series of workshops, beginning in January 2007, and an interactive website, the young people are learning the skills of photography to document their lives and to share their views and vision with children from the other side of the conflict.

Sameh, 15, who is documenting the destruction of homes in Nablus by the Israeli forces and is following the lives of those that lost their homes writes;

“I expect that my photos will be a mirror of my life in Nablus - our problems. I hope that this project can connect our lives with the world and that others can understand our lives.”

Through working together and using photography as a bridge, the teenagers are developing a voice that is rarely heard amidst the daily news of the region’s politics and violence. Noam, 13, a young Israeli says,  “I hope the project will give us a chance to learn about each others lives, to understand the differences and the similarities and to make us closer to each other.”

Micha Bar-am, who moved with his family to Israel, at that time Palestine, in 1936, is known primarily for his coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict - in particular his coverage of the 1956 Sinai War and the 1967 six-day war. Forty years on, he continues to document events and the ongoing struggles in his own ‘back-yard’ as a ‘photographer-witness-observer’.

1. PhotoVoice is a multi-award winning charity based in London. Its mission is to bring about positive social change for marginalised communities through providing them with photographic training with which they can advocate, express themselves and generate income. www.photovoice.org   Charity no. 1096598

2. The Families Forum has played a crucial role since its inception in 1995, in spearheading a reconciliation process between Israelis and Palestinians. The Forum members, half of whom are Palestinian and half Israeli, have all lost immediate family members due to the violence in the region.www.theparentscircle.com

3. The Side-by-side project is being supported The Economist Group, Christian Aid, Salesforce Foundation, and Arthur B. Schultz Foundation  

4. For more details of the project and to view more photographs visit the PhotoVoice website: www.photovoice.org/html/projects/photovoiceprojects/africaandmiddleeast/sidebyside

6. Images from the Side-by-Side project are available for press use. Please Contact: Matt Daw, matt@photovoice.org, 020 7033 3878 / 07888 744 595

7. Images by Micha Bar-am may be provided on request.  Interviews with Micha Bar-am and members of the Families Forum can be arranged on request.

8. The Magnum Photographers Middle East panel debate will be held at the Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AR on Wednesday July 11th at 7pm.  Tickets are priced at £12 (Concessions £6) and are available to buy at www.photovoice.org or +44 (0)20 7033 3878. All proceeds are used to further the work and projects of PhotoVoice.