Cycles

Since 2000, Ilkka Uimonen has been photographing the seemingly endless cycle of violence between Israelis and Palestinians--seeking all the while to illuminate both sides of the story. Surrounded by history, he represented the present, knowing that one could never truly photograph the past. The images in Cycles do not follow the chronology of the events--they are very much Uimonen's personal narratives of his experiences. The sequence of 60 photographs of combatants and innocents is presented without an introduction: the violence and defining sentiments require none. All of the images are full bleed, and collectively provide a mesmeric testimony to the aggression, despair, and pride that exist without boundaries in Palestine. The starkness of Cycles closely reflects Uimonen's stark realism.