A photography exhibition portraying Israelis from every facet of society, curated by students from Baruch College in New York City, will go on display this Thursday on the school’s 25st Street plaza, on the occasion Israel’s 68th Independence Day.
The exhibition was made possible thanks to a $5,000 award from the World Jewish Congress and the Israeli Consulate in New York, for the students’ first place entry in the first annual Campus Pitch Competition.
The exhibit, “Faces of Israel” will feature a walking gallery of 40 to 50 portraits of people from across Israel, accompanied by a short story describing the subject of each image. The gallery shows the true melting pot of Israel, with subjects including Jews, Muslims, Christians, members of the LGBT community, and immigrants, among others.
The students, Amit Gutin and Orr Izkovic, took the top prize in the February competition, facing off against four other student groups finalists from the tristate area. In addition to the grant, the winners were also invited to participate in an international WJC conference in Europe later this year. The other four groups – from Connecticut College, Stony Brook College, New York University Law School and Binghamton University – each took home a $2,500 dollar grant to carry out their projects.
The competition was the culminating event of a semester-long campaign in which student groups from the Tristate region submitted proposals for events, initiatives and ideas to broaden the conversation about Israel and Jewish issues on campus. The World Jewish Congress looks forward to future events of the kind as part of its efforts to promote Israel in the face of delegitimization.
World Jewish Congress CEO Robert Singer said: “Campuses all over the country have been taken over by the dangerous initiatives of those seeking to boycott and delegitimize Israel and Jewish communities, movements that are gaining steam and popular support at alarming rates.
“The World Jewish Congress fully stands behind the advocacy efforts to fight these anti-Israel anti-Jewish campaigns. Thanks to the courage and determination of these students, we can and we will change the conversation on campuses.”
