Curated by: Jinan Halabi and Dana Friedlander-Oren

The photography exhibition “The Feast” presents a unique and alternative perspective created by the joint youth group of the “Through Other Eyes” program (2021), offering a glimpse into the viewpoints of Arab and Jewish teenagers during the year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The exhibition relates to Leonardo da Vinci’s famous artwork “The Last Supper.” This image, quoted in countless works of art, is referenced here in a different way. We chose to focus on the meal itself—the arrangement of the food, the seating, and the aesthetic experience that embodies a sensory encounter.

We take the image into the realm of a celebratory gathering, where traditional Arab food, Jewish dishes from various diasporas, and junk food are placed side by side, merging into one large feast. In this setting, cultures and flavors blend together while each culture maintains its own identity. The encounter itself—the feast—creates something new and shared, challenging underlying assumptions and older narratives that may no longer be relevant today; perhaps they are not relevant to this generation of youth, who mostly love eating hamburgers and pizza.

The image suggests the end of a narrative of cultural separation and the beginning of a new narrative of a shared feast—one that has room for religious and cultural diversity, as well as foods that do not belong to any specific tradition. Through the shared meal, the participants offer the viewer a kind of “serving suggestion” for connecting cultures through art, food, and music.

The “Feast” is not the “Last Supper” in the sense of the original work that leads toward an ending, betrayal, and death. Rather, it is the first feast of a shared life proposed by the group.

During this year—the year of COVID-19—physical meetings turned into virtual ones, and we found ourselves getting to know each other mainly through Zoom. Through this shared exploration across the screen, countless descriptions of food and the smells of home emerged. Between lockdowns and quarantines, the home occupied an increasingly central place in the lives of the teenagers, and through the screen we were able to see different homes, cultures, and foods.

The only thing we could not experience through the screen was taste and smell. We knew that when we would finally meet physically, we would want to activate our senses—to taste and smell, remove the masks, and eat together.

During the photo shoot, without prior preparation, the group suddenly began drumming and singing together. The music seemed to emerge from within the image itself, accompanied by the realization that the connection had truly happened.

The events of this year—both external and internal—raised many questions about connection and intercultural encounter. After the war subsided, meeting again required courage, openness, and honesty: stepping outside the comfort zone, agreeing to challenge prejudices, confronting fears, and repeatedly remembering the points of connection and the relationships that had formed—while not allowing the outside world to penetrate the group.

The teenagers realized that they must find ways to deal with difficulty and disagreement, to agree to look together and discuss the problems and dilemmas present in the shared Israeli society.

The exhibition consists of the large image of the feast, alongside a deconstruction of the feast into individual images in which each participant appears with the food they brought to the table. It also presents studio portraits of the teenagers on a black background, detached from context, accompanied by a personal sentence from each participant about the process they experienced during the year.

Additionally, the exhibition includes images of eyes, created through portraits of faces covered by masks that echo the hijab, erasing all identifying features so that only the eyes remain visible—one Jewish eye and one Arab eye.

Through these images we sought to raise questions about difference, similarity, equality, and identity.

The final element presented in the exhibition is a video showing members of the group blowing dandelion seeds into the wind, as if expressing a wish for the spread of connection, dialogue, and the possibility of shared life to a wider circle.

Table styling credit: Mor Azuz-Dror

Participants in the program say:

“We floated above the walls between sectors.” – Adi

“Each person is a whole world.” – Einav

“One hand alone cannot clap.” – Omer

“Where there is a will, everything is possible.” – Ruba

“New friendships and hope.” – Liya

“I believe in myself.” – Maysana

“I love challenges.” – Naba’a

“It’s wonderful to have so many friends of all kinds.” – Ali

“One must always strive to create the most beautiful thing possible.” – Lamar

“Through Different Eyes was a fun adventure that helped me truly see things through different eyes.” – Ta’ala

“The path is known to all, but only a few choose to walk it.” – Or

“You cannot choose the events in your life, but you can choose your attitude toward them.” – Sidra

“We matured, became curious, met, and connected.” – Daniel

Curatorial Text

Exhibition Catalogue

Opening Reception: Saturday, 11:00–13:00 | 31.7.21

Curated by: Jinan Sharouf Halabi and Dana Friedlander-Oren

Closing Date: 21.8.21

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