Gillian Laub
Gillian Laub (American, born 1975), Yussie in the Old City, Jerusalem, Israel, May, 2002, 2002, chromogenic print, 30 x 40 in. Schwartz Art Collection, Harvard Business School, 2007.10.
Testimony is a photographic series by the photographer and film-maker Gillian Laub—consisting of portraits of Israeli Jews, Israeli Arabs, displaced Lebanese families, and Palestinians—that is intended to spark dialogue. As described in her book Testimony, published by Aperture in 2007, “In the interviews that accompany each portrait, a common thread of survival is revealed. Resilience, pride, defiance, vulnerability—and most astonishing of all, optimism—emerge from one statement to the next.” Laub’s photograph is accompanied by the following statement from a sitter, Yussie: “My whole family is back in America. I was just there, and everyone—my friends and family—was trying to convince me to stay. They were afraid for me to go back to Israel because of the situation. I understand why they worry, but I tried to explain to them that my heart and soul are in Israel. I can't live in America without this part of me. That's why I am back in Israel. As I see it, a person has two ways of living: either with their mind, or their heart and soul. I am happy with my decision. I have to and will always follow my heart.”
Laub graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in comparative literature, before studying photography at the International Center of Photography in New York City. Her portraits have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, Time, and the New Yorker. She is represented by Benrubi Gallery, New York.