
Photo by Jeff Wall, Daybreak, 2011. One of the works on show at the Jewish Museum’s photography exhibition This Place, on through Jan 5.
In an extension of his work documenting Jewish communities around the world, French photographer Frederic Brenner initiated this exhibition by inviting 11 international colleagues to join him in photographing Jerusalem and the West Bank. The political sensitivity of the region couldn’t be more raw: a week after the show opened the Jewish Museum’s own director resigned over a re-tweet of an article opposing the German Government’s recent outlawing of BDS, a movement calling for a cultural boycott of Israel over its policies towards Palestinians. Vast empty landscapes and architecture are depicted by Thomas Struth alongside Nick Wapplington’s trademark family portraiture. The conflict that has ravaged the region is consistently implied but never explicitly spelt out, such as with Jeff Wall’s only work here “Daybreak”, an enormous photograph of figures asleep on the desert floor, set against the backdrop of a distant wall dotted with watchtowers. It’s a slick exhibition with works that make you think, but leaves a lingering suspicion that something is missing.
This Place | Jewish Museum, Mitte. Through Jan 5.