Michal Arnheim, a student in the Department of Photography, is the winner of Micha Kirshner photography Prize

The winners of the annual prize, sponsored by the Kirshner and Ben-Yami families, were announced at the yearly Micha Kirshner Seminar. It was held at the Department of Photography and Screen Arts at the WIZO Haifa Academic Center, with the participation of the Haifa Museum of Art.

Michal Arnheim, a fourth-year student in Bezalel’s Department of Photography, won first place. Michal spoke of her work process and her winning project: “I live and create in Jerusalem, and photograph in analogue 35mm film in color and black and white. Lately, I find myself seeking out spaces to photograph that have elements of nature – trees, grass, green spaces. I look for the wildness of plants, dirt paths. Going out into nature stimulates me emotionally and allows me to “blur” distinct markers of time and place. The sequence of images in the project was created recently, when I traveled often to my parents’ house in Beit Shemesh. I found myself returning to those places where I used to hang out as a girl – to the fields by our house, to the monastery in Beit Jamal, and to the outskirts of the neighborhood where I grew up.  This space between nature and city allowed me a degree of security and intimacy, and the proximity of the two allowed a spillover between these worlds. This place exists on another stratum, removed from me and my personal experience, and I can access it only with the aid of photography. Beit Shemesh is a fascinating city, which contains a lot. You can characterize it many ways but photography demands something different. As the images accumulated, I noticed how each image was detached from the one preceding it, as if it told a different story and was taken from separate worlds.”

From the judges’ assessment: “Michal Arnheim’s black and white photos present Beit Shemesh from an intimate, poetic and surprising angle. The events taking place at the outskirts of the city are like glimpses at daily shows – banal, but at the same time striking at the heart of Israeli consciousness.”

The prize was created in 2021 in an attempt to further the art of photography and video among young artists who are just starting out. The panel of judges is composed mainly of leading professionals in the field of photography and art and includes a representative from the family that sponsors the prize. The criteria for winning includes originality, innovation and a unique artistic fingerprint.