Gena Heelz
Oct 5, 20192 min
Updated: Nov 30, 2020
Gili Benita is an Israeli photographer based in Jerusalem. He was born in Jerusalem in 1997 and raised in Tsur Hadassah, a small town near Jerusalem. He studied film in The Jerusalem high school of arts and served in the army, as a cinematographer in the air force film unit.
In 2017, Gili had join forces along 'Save a Child's Heart,' and started documenting the life-saving organization, both in Israel and in Tanzania.
Since 2016, Gili is focused on delivering the silent voice in society by committing to long-term documentary projects, in Israel, Africa, Japan, and other regions.
In Gili Benita documentary, he speaks of his journey to Japan. He reflects his personal perspectives and sense of emotions his photography.
He writes, “On February 2018, I traveled to Japan for a two-month journey, to explore the Japanese culture of being alone and its encounter with my own sense of feeling alone. In a country where thousands of people die alone each year without anyone noticing, loneliness reaches its most extreme form.”
“In my journey, I was able to find the difference between loneliness and solitude, and the positive presence of the existence of personal individualism. In the series of photographs that I took, I tried to photograph myself and my alone through other people, passersby in the space of Japan.”
“The character I chose to photograph, were for me a mirror for myself. They helped me to figure out the thin line between solitude and loneliness.”
Gili expressed sense of emotion stating, “Looking at those stranger characters and finding a sense of identification from a distant place, inspired me to express the sense of feeling alone in a place where allows it, where other people feel like me. Especially in the loneliest place, I did not feel alone anymore.”
Gili's motto is:
“I believe that a photograph should speak for itself and deliver a message, without any additional explanation.”
Awards
First place in photographed story category - Local Testimony, 2018
Press
iGNANT - Link
The Independent Photographer - Link
Ha'Arets Photo Blog - Link
Mako - Link
Vogue Italia - Link
Biancissimo - Link
Edge of Humanity - Link
Neocha - Link
The Modern Day Explorer - Link
Aint Bad - Link
Local Testimony - Link
VSCO - Link
The president of Israel - Ruvi Rivlin - Link
Xitek - China - Link
Exhibitions
Local Testimony, group exhibition, Erets Israel Museum. Tel Aviv 2018
'Kodoku' solo exhibition, Space Place Gallery, Russia - 2018
The Print Fair, group exhibition, Tel Aviv - 2018
For full bio click on the link below:
https://www.gilibenita.com/kodoku
For further inquiries about Gili Benita please click on the links below: