Artists and projects
Roni Ben Ari
The eye should learn to listen before it looks

My work is characterized mostly by the long term study of social issues in which the human landscape comprises the main part.

The subjects that I photograph in stills and video are universal, and as such, they allow me to document in many places around the world, while I encounter over and over again the weak, the deprived and the silenced who are always found on the margins of society: minorities, the elderly, migrants, prostitutes and ecology. These are just a fraction of a long list. The many projects I exhibit all over the world shine a light on a society living in the shadows. The photographs serve as a kind of journalistic essay, the role of which is to prod government bodies, NGOS, and private initiatives into action to expand the laws protecting the weak and enforce them.

I adore people, whoever they are and wherever I meet them. I have tremendous empathy for the “other” as well as an ability to get close and offer them a warm hug. My patience and ability to listen have helped me to reach people others have labeled “the walking transparent.” With my camera I present their daily lives and humanity as a mirror to the cultured world that ignores their very existence.

http://ronibenari.com/
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