Brides in white

Since 2008 the Umm el-Fahem art Gallery is operating an historical archive that holds and keeps building a collection of historical photographs, commissioned photographs, oral interviews and mementos that tell the story of the life in Umm el-Fahem city in Israel/Palestine and the Wadi Ara area since the end of the 19th century.
The establishment of the archive within the gallery began with the creation of the exhibition “Memory of a Place , exhibited at the gallery in 2008. The exhibition, curated by Photographer Guy Raz and historically supervised by Prof. Mustafa Kabha, was very successful, especially as it attracted to the gallery local residents of Umm el-Fahem and Wadi Ara area, who wanted to share their common story.
Due to the great success of the exhibition, it was determined that the endeavor to collect more materials of a documentary nature about memories of the elders of Umm el-Fahem and Wadi Ara must continue. Also it was clear that “Memory of a Place” should become a permanent exhibition at the gallery, as it finally did, with the expansion of the gallery in February 2011.
The work consists of the creation of filmed Interviews of the elders of Umm el-Fahem and the Wadi Ara area, transcriptions of the interviews, and the building of an efficient and professional digital catalogue that will enable easy access to the archive’s collections.