Pilgrim – 20 Years of Photography in Tibet

The exhibition at the Artists House is the undertaking of Mr. Gere and presented in the framework of his commitment to supporting peaceful efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A simultaneous exhibition of Mr. Gere’s photographs will open on Friday, June 4th at the Zakakini Gallery in Ramallah as part of this undertaking. A total of forty photographs will be exhibited at the Artists House.
“I feel like a pilgrim. I identify with that dark figure in the photo I call Pilgrim. But it’s also about the movement. It’s a search, even if you don’t know what the search is for. We’re all pilgrims in this lifetime, in past lifetimes, and in future lifetimes.” Richard Gere
Gere uses a slow lens, relying on soft, gentle light. His technique produces warm images that pull the viewer into a world of ritual, monks at prayer, mountains, and faces upturned to light revealing pain and hope. The subtle grey tones of his images convey the illusory nature of things and the lack of absolutes in reality. Gere’s work acknowledges the dichotomies of spirituality and injustice, light and dark, good and evil, hope and grief that pervade human existence. These contrasts are central to his work. They underscore the reality of what Gere as Buddhist and soulful human being witnessed personally in his pilgrimage to the Himalayan area known as the “Roof of the World.”

A lecture will be held at the Artists House on the 6th of July in honor of the Dalai Lama’s birthday
Non-Violence in the Teachings of the Dalai Lama
Lecturer: Nahi Alon, Israeli Friends of the Tibetan People

Initiative and production in Israel – Iris Elhanani
Courtesy of Mona Bar, Studio Shimon Schneider, Graphos Print, Gidi Lis Productions, Jerusalem