The Settlements

The Settlements is a topographical portrait of architecture and landscape Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Taken over a four-year period, these Black and white photographs reveal the genesis and evolution of the great project of colonization. Focused on the strong contrast between the median view from the interior of the colonies and the wider view from their perimeters, the images belie the tense proximity of two peoples living on the same territory. Using a map of the locations of the colonies, he visited more of fifty communities in six separate regions of the West Bank - Shomron, Binyamin, Gush Etzion, East Jerusalem, Jordan Valley and the Hills from Hebron and a multitude of demographic groups - national religious, ultra-Orthodox, secular and mixed. There were small settlements with a few hundred inhabitants, some with a few thousand and others with much more. Some with private houses, others with trailers. And unofficial colonies, outposts with small populations and minimal infrastructure. All different. Devoid of colors and people, The Settlements lays bare the roads, the hills, the fences, houses, land, facts on the ground, a sense of place with a disturbing banality. Ken Taranto is an American photographer who lives in Tel Aviv. Before moving to Israel, Taranto lived in New York where he worked as an instructor at the Pratt Institute, an art printer and documented the redevelopment of Jersey City's shoreline. THE SETTLEMENTS Ken Taranto 9781910401644 01 / 2022 Hardcover €54.00 230 x 310 mm 112 pages 53 duotone photographs