Edison Cinema, 2007, Inkjet Print, 120X80 cm

The Edison Cinema was built in 1932, and was one of the most glamorous venues in Jerusalem as early as the 1950’s. It showed movies and concerts by the Israeli Philharmonic and the orchestra of renowned singer Farid Al-Atrash. The cinema became a community center and in the 1980’s it showed films from India and Turkey. Whole families arrived to watch the films, and created a buzzing community life in the cinema. Over the years the area became a center for the Hasidic Jewish community and the building was perceived as a foreign reminder of secular culture in the neighborhood. Elboher photographs the cinema in its dying moments. He returns to the mythological place where his father used to watch films as a boy, a moment before it is demolished. Elboher penetrates to the core of the cinema and brings to life one last glorious moment in what was a significant milestone in the cultural life of Jerusalem, about to become extinct. On top of the demolished cinema a project of about a hundred flats was built, where Hasidic Jews now reside.

Pri Hadash 7, 2008, Inkjet Print, 63x43 cm

Elboher observes buildings about to be demolished. A disappearance that resembles the end of a lifetime, the end of a certain culture and urban pluralism that are giving way in areas of Jerusalem, especially the northern parts. On his way to the Musrara school, Elboher passed by the house on Pri Hadash street number 7, which was in the process of being the WORKS demolished. He was reminded of the stories of his father, who grew up in the neighborhood.
The documentation of the process exposes the story of a life - personal objects, a living room, a silent TV. A hole in the wall becomes a window through which we can observe the lifestyle of the “other”, the identity of the people who lived in the house, who had a strict and pious lifestyle. The photograph brings us closer to those people, who had an exceptional lifestyle in that neighborhood.

Biography

Born in Israel, 1980 | Lives and works In Tel-Aviv | Graduated from Musrara in 2008 | Presented a Solo Exhibition in the Museum of Israeli art, Ramat Gan ( 2012) and participated in Group Exhibitions in Israel and abroad: Binyamin Gallery, Tel Aviv (2012); 11th Architecture Biennale, Venice (2008); Peila, Amiad Center, Jaffa (2012); Photography Biennial, Amsterdam (2012) and more | Won the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, Sharett Photography Scholarship (2008-9) and the Mayor of Jerusalem Award for Excellence in art studies (2008)