Transparent Curtains: Aging through the eyes of gay elders

Research has shown that elders in the LGBTQ+ community are often more likely to experience loneliness, exclusion, and fear of turning to health and welfare services. The five men pictured in this series, all over seventy, identify themselves as gay and live in Israel. A land of continuous religious and ideological struggles, where despite progressive reforms in recent decades, LGBTQ+ members are still subjected to legal discrimination, stigmas, and exclusion, fueled by influential and political groups. They have agreed to share their stories with me and over many hours, we talked about aging and dreams, love, exclusion, and fears, and out of these conversations, this series was formed. Created collaboratively in a makeshift studio I have built in the subjects' home, with each portrait, we tried to visually represent a thought, a story, a piece of an inner world. A world that is often kept behind transparent curtains, from the fear of being hurt. We used photography to explore the gap between the constructed and the unexpected, what we think and what we feel, between what we hide, and what is safe to reveal.