DIVERSIONS

Katamonim est un quartier juif du sud-ouest de Jérusalem composé de huit sous-quartiers et de 23 800 habitants. Le nom "Katamon" est dérivé du grec "près du monastère" mais d'autres versions indiquent que ce mot viendrait du mot arabe "Katma". Après la guerre d'indépendance (1948), les Arabes ont quitté la région et de nouveaux logements ont été construits pour les immigrants juifs, en particulier originaires d'Afrique du Nord, arrivés dans les années 1950 à la création de l'État d'Israël. Dans ce quartier, des entreprises de logement social ont construit des bâtiments sur deux étages. Un grand nombre d'appartements sont toujours détenus par des entreprises de logement social et profitent surtout aux populations les plus défavorisées, ainsi qu'aux nombreux immigrés venant d'Éthiopie et de l’ex-Union Soviétique. Au cours de ce projet qui aura duré 4 mois, la photographe Gabriela Gleizer a parcouru les rues de ce quartier en explorant ses caractéristiques urbaines et sociétales. Son objectif était d'en apprendre plus sur l'histoire de ce quartier et de ses habitants, parfois défavorisés ou immigrants, et pour qui il est souvent difficile de s'intégrer à la population locale.

Gabriela Gleizer, a recent graduate from the Photography Department of Bezalel Academy of Art and Design (BFA), Jerusalem. She is interested in documentary photography and social and cultural issues. She sees the city where she lives in, Jerusalem, as an ideal place to explore the social, cultural and political aspects, in addition to the historical background of the city, and finds great interest in wandering in the streets and neighborhoods, meeting people and trying to understand and deepen the complexity that characterizes the city.

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Katamonim is a Jewish neighbourhood in southwest Jerusalem, consisting of eight areas and a population of 23,800 inhabitants. The name “Katamon” is derived from the Greek "by the monastery", but other versions say that the word came from the arabic word “Katma”. After the war of independence (1948) the Arabs left the area and new housing units were built for jewish immigrants, especially coming from North Africa, who arrived during the early years of the State of Israel (in the 1950’s). In the neighborhood, public housing companies built two-floors buildings. Until today, a large number of apartments are still owned by the housing companies, and serve mostly a weak socioeconomic population, including many immigrants from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union. In this four-month project, the photographer, Gabriela Gleizer wandered through the streets of the neighborhood while investigating its social and urban characteristics. She wanted to learn more about this neighborhood, its history, and its residents, who often are disadvantaged people or immigrants, and who find it difficult to be integrated in the local population.