Can a tormented land, fractured with hatred between its peoples still be called Land of Miracles? Photographer Wendy Sue Lamm explores this question in her book “From the Land of Miracles,”(Contrasto $30) and on Thursday, February 23 at 7:30 p.m. at Village Books on Swarthmore. Lamm does not hide the wounds of the everyday reality born of conflict in her photo book, but reflects on the fragile balance between peace and war on the daily life of Israelis and Palestinians. In the 50 color photographs, she juxtaposes attacks and retaliations with delicate, bittersweet ironies. After years in Jerusalem photographing Israelis and Palestinians, Lamm has become one of the most sincere visual interpreters of the complex and complicated Arab-Israeli relationship. This book, with poetry by Arthur Miller and a short story by Emile Habiby, shows the deep beauty of a land where the true miracle may simply be to wake up every morning, and to live through every day. The book was also published in Italy and Sweden, where it was nominated for Best Photo Book 2005, at the Scandinavian Book Fair, and in the January/February issue of American Photo, it was named as one of “The Best Books of the Year.” Lamm, who grew up in Pacific Palisades, recalls that her first published image appeared in the Palisadian-Post in 1981 or 1982 when she was a Santa Monica High School student. “It was a photo of Buddy Ebsen playing at a blue grass festival,” she recalls. Since graduating from UC Berkeley in 1988, she has worked as a staff photographer at Agence France-Presse in Jerusalem, and at several other leading publications, including the Los Angeles Times, where her photographs of the Northridge earthquake were part of the coverage that earned the L.A. Times its 1994 Pulitzer for spot news. In 1998, she joined the Italian photo agency Contrasto, and is currently regularly commissioned to photograph in Europe, the Americas and the Middle East. She was based since 1996 successively in Jerusalem, Paris and Stockholm, and recently returned to Los Angeles. She and her husband Esaias have a 2-year-old boy, Elia. “From The Land of Miracles” is Lamm’s attempt to show different perspectives on the Middle East crises. “I learned that it’s a very complicated situation, fractured,” she told the Palisadian-Post. “As a photographer, I see that a lot is being said about the place, but you have to see it to know what’s going on.” The book contains only two text segments, which Lamm felt best correspond to the way she felt. “I wanted to show different perspectives on it and I was always looking for other writings.” Lamm lived for two years in Jerusalem and later moved to Paris but continued to make trips back and forth to Ramallah. She said that she speaks neither Hebrew nor Arabic, because “if you’re working close in Palestinian areas, it’s best to speak English. They’re always testing you.” Her photographs are exhibited in the world’s leading museums, and are regularly seen in publications such as The New York Times Magazine, The Sophisticated Traveler, Newsweek, Geo, Der Spiegel and Elle. Her photographs of Israelis and Palestinians have received awards in the World Press Photo Awards and the National Press Photographers Pictures of the Year, among many others. In her next book “Grass,” Lamm explores the yearning of mankind to recreate our own Eden’which we have been missing ever since Adam and Eve were kicked out of Paradise.
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