EYE FROM ZION is an Israeli voluntary organization that gives free medical treatment to needy populations around the world. During the last few years I joined the medical delegations to Vietnam ,to Myanmar to Ethiopia and to Kenya. The Doctors went to distant districts and far-flung villages to preform oculoplastic, cataract and cross-eye surgeries.
I documented the work of the doctors in the operating rooms : the poor conditions , the improvised equipment in the clinics, the local patients, the pre-and-post-op situation.The experience was overwhelming. Cataract operations are a simple procedure, and very common in the western world, but in countries with no public health care, people go blind simply because they cannot afford treatment.
In addition to the documentary, I made a portrait series. I was fascinated by the way people looked before and after their operations. the cloudy, infected eye, the mark on the forehead, the family escort, the tattoos . In every clinic i set up a tiny studio where I took portraits of the patients. The arrival of the medical delegation in the villages was a big event, so many local friends and relatives joined in my little studio and asked to be photographed as well .
