TLV Asylum City

Newspaper and Exhibition

Read the newspaper as pdf

African Refugees in Israel:

Toward the end of 2006, thousands of refugees from Africa arrived in Israel. They are exiles-refugees from their own countries, escaping genocide, civil war and military regimes. In Egypt they attempted to find refuge, but suffered from persecution, harassment and extradition to the governments desiring them dead. Following an arduous and illegal journey they crossed the border with Israel, where they hoped to find shelter and an end to their flight. However, their hardships were not yet over. In Israel today there are approximately 10,000 refugees and asylum seekers from Sudan, Eritrea, the Ivory Coast Congo and Ethiopia.

When the refugees arrive to Egypt’s border with Israel, if they manage to survive the long trek through the desert and the attempts of Egyptian soldiers to shoot or imprison them, they are immediately transferred to the Ktsiot Prison in Israel. . As of June 2007 there is no longer any room in the prison, so the Israeli army began taking the refugees from the Egyptian border to the streets of Beer Sheva, a city in southern Israel. Countless refugees – pregnant women, children and men - were abandoned by Israel on the streets.

ActiveVision: Who We Are

ActiveVision is a legally registered non-governmental association in Israel. Established in 2006 by a group of creators who believe in the power of the visual image to create awareness and change, ActiveVision acts to enrich another dimension of visual media, that of those perceived as passive within the documentary world.

Through activities and workshops, ActiveVision accompanies participants in using the visual arts to tell their stories. To tell their stories in order to initiate and realize positive change in their lives and the lives of their communities, and to create solidarity and closeness of the entire society to the chosen subject. All projects are conducted within the communities themselves, which thus create personal and group documentation. All projects have a strong sense of participant and community ownership.

Project "Asylum City"

Over the last half a year, Activision conducted a photography course for a group of South-Sudanese and Darfur refugee youth. The course was funded by private donations and the organizing team volunteered. During the course the participants learned to use the camera, developed technical knowledge and skills, and learned how to use photographic language as a form of self expression and tool for social change.

The course consisted of theoretical classes, group exercises and different photographic assignments.

As part of the course, the participants experimented with different forms of journalist work, and collected photographs and stories connected to the refugee community and asylum seekers in Tel Aviv. The outcome is collected in a photo-exhibition and a newspaper.