Jerusalem, 2007, in Mahane Yehuda Market Possibly 2007 - 2014

Leo Rubinfien made this gelatin silver print, Jerusalem, in 2007, in Mahane Yehuda Market. It’s a photograph, so the mark-making isn’t about paint, but light, and the way it catches on surfaces and creates these stark contrasts. The composition is what grabs me, how he’s placed the figures in the frame. There’s a central figure looking right at us, and then others peering from behind. It’s like a theatre. The way the image is cropped makes it feel like we are shoulder to shoulder with these people, experiencing this place, this market, together. Look at the beard of the central figure, the way it is rendered in such detail. And the guy behind him, the glint in his glasses. This photograph is, for me, about an instant. Rubinfien has managed to capture a sense of time in a single frame. It reminds me a bit of the work of Garry Winogrand, but maybe with a touch more tenderness. It feels intimate, but also a bit elusive, like trying to grasp a memory.