Author(s): Bjorn Vedder

Photography

Cities, like people, possess character. From the shared experiences of the people who live in a city emerges a collective portrait, yet the portrait remains ever-changing, a reflection of the shifting relationships between individuals and society. With his well-known Collective Portraits series, artist and photographer Roland Fischer presents a solution to the problem of how to capture a portrait that simultaneously presents a collective and individual view of a community or city.
           
Roland Fischer: Tel Aviv is the most recent addition to the Collective Portraits series. Working in collaboration with Tel Aviv University, Fischer photographed one thousand individuals whose photographs were then mounted together in one large composition. In the book, each page comprises one or two portraits from the original composition. Fischer’s work invites viewers to consider the common features that emerge from among the portraits, as well as the differences, which appear all the more striking given the careful continuity of framing and light. Together, the portraits reveal the rich layers of connection between the people who constitute this remarkable, multicultural city. The book also includes a large fold-out poster, which shows the complete Israeli Collective Portrait.