Dreamland - After Mark Twain in the Holy Land

Dreamland - After Mark Twain in the Holy Land “Palestine is no more of this work-day world. It is sacred to poetry and tradition - it is dream-land.” - Mark Twain My current project begin with the unparalleled uniqueness of the holy land as describe in the Mark Twain book: the "Innocents abroad" It is about comparing the idea of the Holy Land, to the reality. It is about disappointment: the difference between our idea of how the Holy Land, should be, and the disappointment we all have, as Mark Twain pointed out, with the harsh reality. It is about following in Mark Twain’s footsteps in his journey to “Dreamland”. In 1860 Mark Twain wrote a diary of his trip to the Middle East including what was known as the Holy Land. His reports were eventually compiled into the book, "The Innocents Abroad". Like other travellers in those years, Twain came to the country under the influence of gushing descriptions from pilgrims and painters who presented the Holy Land, as “land flowing with milk and honey,” and who painted it as though in a dream, while ignoring the obvious neglect. Twain was confronted with the “naked truth,” as he put it, and wrote from the perspective of a broken dream: “Palestine is desolate and unlovely. And why should it be otherwise?” It has been a long passion of mine to document the exceptional uniqueness of the Holy Land. This attraction stems from the cultural paradoxes that can be seen everywhere, but especially in the spiritual locations in this ever- controversial country, often referred to as the “birthplace of religion”. I started working on the project, three years ago, I wanted to return, to follow Mark Twain step-by-step through the Holy Land; to explore and document his journey on my own, and in the process explore the roots of my own ancestry through this journey. It is a story of longing and wanting to explore my roots in this “birthplace”. It is a journey that tells the stories of Motty and Mark. I began my photo-journey at Kalhat Nimrod’s Castle of Banias in the north of Israel, it being the point at which he crossed into the Holy Land from Syria. I have photographed in some of the major places he visited, such as Teberia, Nazareth, the Galilee, and Jerusalem, Those are some of the major points in any pilgrim's list of “must-sees” and in his journey, he considers them to be both historic and holy to the 3 major religions. It was over 150 years ago that Mark Twain went to Palestine to see the Holy Land, and now I - a lifelong photographer - am following in his footsteps in his journey to “Dreamland,” to retell his story through a different lens.