Ethics and Setting
The second annual conference of the Phototherapy Department alumni community

Around 45 participants attended the seminar: students, senior and “fresh” alumni, lecturers, a representative from a nursing home, and guests generally interested in the Phototherapy program and in phototherapy for the elderly.
Following the opening speeches and a survey of the project of phototherapy in nursing homes in Jerusalem, the documentary Life in Stills was screened in the presence of the director Tamar Tal and the lead actor Ben Peter. The film portrays the character of Miriam Weissenstein, a woman in her 90’s who runs the family photography shop and focuses on the special bond she has with her grandson Ben. After the screening, a conversation with Tal and Peter took place, addressing the significant influence of continuous documentation on the emotional state of Weissenstein and the emotional development she undergoes in this specific chapter of life, and her relationships with those around her.
Two alumni of the Phototherapy Department, Yonit Shalom, and Rama Yazma, presented at the conference their work with the elderly, which involves phototherapy tools and techniques. Shalom introduced her work at a day center for the elderly in Holon, and Yazma – her work in Hadera.
The conference ended with a lecture by Yael Baruch, clinical psychologist, and psychoanalyst, on developmental and therapeutic processes in emotional treatment for the elderly. In her lecture, Baruch emphasized the possibilities of emotional and creative development in this period in life.

April 2016
This conference was attended by students and alumni of the Phototherapy Department, as well as guests interested in the field.
The conference began with a lecture by Ronit Shpiner, senior clinical psychologist who works at the Bnei Brit childcare facility. Her lecture, “To Know/Not to Know”, addressed the psychological mechanisms associated with the concealment of a traumatizing incident from a psychoanalytic perspective. She demonstrated with case studies from clinical practice and her treatment of children.
Liron Breier Danziger, photographer and artist, presented the personal and artistic journey she embarked on following sexual assault she suffered in childhood, towards an exhibition displayed at the Tel Aviv Artists’ House. 20 years previously, Breier Danziger filed a complaint to the police over the assault. The case was closed due to “Lack of Public Interest”. This phrase, which is also the title of the exhibition, symbolizes for her the incompetence of the police, the concealment of the trauma and the system, which causes the victim to feel ashamed. Breier Danziger added other women to the journey, photographed sexual assault crime scenes, and built a collage work combining childhood photos from her personal album.
The artistic work of Liron Breier Danziger, though not “phototherapy” per se, demonstrates the significance of photography in the processing of traumatic emotional substances. The use of the camera and observation through it provide a sense of security and can enable victims to return to the original scene of the assault, which is part of the process of testimony and retroactive validation. The connection between image and words, which she creates in her work, demonstrates the processing of the trauma, and enables it. The collages she created convey the “traumatic time”, which seems to stand still, and the harm to the sense of subjectivity of continuity and coherence.

The final part of the conference was divided into four simultaneous workshops:

“What Is Outside and What Is Inside”, hosted by Hagit Sabag, social worker, phototherapist, group instructor, graduate of the therapists program of Musrara’s Phototherapy Department. The workshop dealt with the “inside” of the secret and of the space of emotional treatment, between therapist and patient, through graffiti photographed outside, in public spaces.
The workshop demonstrated the use of a tool that combines photography and words and allows for movement and choice on the spectrums of inside-outside, extrovert and anonymity, concealment and revealing, exposure and hiding.

“The Vulnerable Area in Photography” was hosted by Orna Glas, arts and photo therapist, practicum coordinator at Musrara’s Phototherapy Department. Participants shared what they considered the vulnerable – concealed and overt – areas in the photographs they chose. The work was implemented using a variety of materials and in a fashion that allowed for symbolic “treatment “of the photograph’s wounds.

“The Photo Outside – The Photo Inside”, hosted by Tamar Sela, arts and photo therapist with an MA in Social Work. The workshop dealt with the capacity of choosing when and how to share and the ability to put a word to an image; observation of the place that is void of words, and that which already contains them.

“Photography and Writing as Emotional Processing”, hosted by Tamar Einstein, arts and photo therapist – dealt with creating a container for traumatic secrets through photography, following senses of the body.

Conference: Therapy and Photography – Aspects of Shame and Embarrassment

Phantoms – Photography of What Remains