May you Continue to Blossom – Alexandra Dautel

Photographer Alexandra Dautel investigates an Israeli community, a kibbutz, created in 1989 in the middle of the Negev desert. After visiting the site, however, she discovered it was more like a school. Through extensive digital research, she exposes the ambiguity and violence of a place that at first glance seemed rather utopian. Interviews with present and past members reveal that some describe it as a cult. Using different points of view, the visual language of the book’s images – a mix of archival material, plans, documents, and Dautel’s own photographs – reflects the contradictions and complexities of the community and its history, as well as the gaps and grey areas.

228 pages.