Absolut Elections

In 2006 Israel faced a tense election campaign that took place against the backdrop of the evacuation of the Gush Katif bloc of Israeli settlements; the IDF’s disengagement from the Gaza Strip; the decision by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to leave the Likud Party; the establishment of the Kadima political party; and the stroke suffered by Sharon about two months prior to the elections.

That same year, at the Naggar School of Photography at Musrara, I searched for an idea that could integrate commercial photography studies – which require considerable skill in operating a camera in conditions of complex lighting – with students’ creative and critical thinking skills. At one lecture, after I presented a review of photography and the advertising world, during a brainstorming session in the classroom we decided together that the students should create works relating to the election campaign in the framework of a dialogue with the iconic Absolut Vodka advertising campaign.

The students were tasked with articulating to themselves their thoughts and feelings about the emotionally-charged election campaign to create an image that conveyed a personal or socio-political position that emanated from the visual language of the campaign. The students printed their works and presented them at an exhibition at a pub in the city center.