'We Shall Rise' installation highlights Israel's journey since October 7 at Tel Aviv mall

An immersive art installation named 'We Shall Rise' has opened in Tel Aviv, offering a powerful reflection on Israeli society's experiences since the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023. Located on the rooftop of the Azrieli Tel Aviv Mall, the exhibition provides visitors with a journey through defining moments of the period, from the initial massacres to the present day.

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In the last two and a half years, I've been documenting intensively, from the morning of October 7 (2023), until the last days, everything that happened in Israel during this period of time.

The installation features a wide array of images captured by photographer Ziv Koren, whose work spans destroyed kibbutzim, wounded Israeli children, and scenes of returned hostages embracing their families. Koren described his photography as an intensely emotional process, aiming to make viewers feel a profound connection to the subjects. "My goal in my photography is to make people feel something, and to go through some kind of emotional experience while viewing the image," Koren stated, noting that the documentation has been one of the most challenging of his career.

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People think that when you're holding a camera in front of your face, it blocks you from feeling towards the subject that you're photographing, and it's totally the opposite.

Writer and poet Noam Horev collaborated on the project, providing the narration that accompanies Koren's visuals across ten distinct projections within the 500-square-meter space. Horev connected his personal experiences since the war's outset to the national narrative, emphasizing the project's aim to find hope and optimism. "We've been through a really tough and hard three years, and we wanted to find some hope, some optimism," he said.

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My goal in my photography is to make people feel something, and to go through some kind of emotional experience while viewing the image. And this doesn’t pass me by as it goes from my subject to the viewer. It really goes through me. So, it's probably been the hardest documentation (experience) I've had throughout the years.

Horev also framed the installation as an act of resistance, designed to demonstrate the nation's enduring strength. "We wanted to show that no matter what, no matter how they try to kill us and to make us vanish, we're still here," Horev explained. "Really, this nation has a strength and endless power to continue. We really wanted people to come out, to be proud of being Israeli, and to remember that we're strong, and we're even stronger when we're together."

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In the last two and a half years, I've been documenting intensively, from the morning of October 7 (2023), until the last days, everything that happened in Israel during this period of time.