When Miki Kratsman was a pre-teen, he immigrated to Israel from Argentina. As an adult, he started working as a photojournalist and his work, which appeared in Hadashot and Haaretz, took him to Israeli-occupied territories. Those photos revealed "the violent, often detached nature of Israel's military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza," according to USF Tampa's Contemporary Art Museum, which currently has Miki Kratsman: People I Met on exhibit.
And what an exhibit it is, because there's more to the story — Kratsman has an archive of some 9,000-plus images, and he often wondered what happened to the people he'd met and photographed. In 2011, he created a Facebook page, posted the images, and asked — and continues to do so — "what happened to this person?"
The results were chilling, because not only did those photographs record life, Kratsman found, they also served as chilling reminders of those killed.
The exhibit has other work in it as well, including photographs from Kratsman’s Bedouin Archive and Displaced.
Thursday night, come can meet Kratsman and listen to him talk with USF CAM's curator-at-large, Christian Viveros-Fauné. You can also meet him Thursday night at the Oxford Exchange; details below.
Beyond News: Miki Kratsman in conversation with Christian Viveros-Fauné | Oxford Exchange, 420 W. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa | Aug. 30, 6:30 p.m. | $5 | Get tickets here
Miki Kratsman: Artist Conversation | USF School of Music Concert Hall, 4202 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa | Aug. 31, 6 p.m
Miki Kratsman: People I Met reception | USF CAM, 4202 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa | Aug. 31, 7 p.m.
Art Thursday: Curator's Tour | USF CAM, 4202 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa | Sept. 13, 6:30 p.m.
Symposium: Politics of the Portrait / Photography as Activism | USF MUS Conference Center, 4202 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa | Oct. 11, 2-5 p.m. | reception follows
Art Thursday: Concert in the Galleries at CAM — existing and new music responding to the exhibit | 4202 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa | Nov. 1, 8 p.m.
Film on the Lawn: 5 Broken Cameras — shot by Palestinian Farmer Emad Burnat | USF Tampa, 4202 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa | Nov. 16, 6 p.m.
Miki Kratsman: People I Met | USF Contemporary Art Museum & Institute for Research in Art, 4202 E. Fowler Ave., CAM 101, Tampa | Aug. 20-Dec. 8: Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Thurs., 10 a.m.-8 p.m. and Sat., 1-4 p.m.; closed Sept. 3, Nov. 12, Nov. 22-24, and every Sunday | Free; purchase a $5 parking permit or pay hourly for parking | cam.usf.edu or 813-974-4133
This article appears in Aug 23-30, 2018.