The two countries – Lebanon and Israel that gave shelter to the photographers – or rejected them – became, for a fortnight, not only their work places but rather their temporary homes.  Having found themselves in the eye of the tragedy the journalists received firsthand knowledge of the grim events. The exhibition is an attempt to tell about the war, the people who lost their homes and families, their sorrow and grief. It is essential to be in the centre of events or at least to be their to get a close understanding of them. It is a great luck to be able to live beyond the politicised television news and be free of stereotypical approach of dividing people into agressors, occupants, victims.

Denis Sinyakov:

“Working in Israel and meeting common people I understood that they want just one thing – that I as a witness tell my friends in my country of what goes on here. They wanted me to tell about themselves having spent one and a half months in bomb shelters or having fleed heir houses, worried for their family members, Israel defendance army soldiers and reservists, mourning for more than a hundred of them. They wanted me to tell about people from the North of the country where their houses are destroyed, who know a reason for this war, a war with no winners.”

Sergei Ponomaryov:

“Misfortune is, indeed, a very personal thing. But if one doesn’t notice another person’s misfortune, if one doesn’t try to understand it, it can barely receive an adequate reaction.  And, moreover, in this case one cannot help it. To me, Lebanon became not just another business trip. It made me feel the pain, the sorrow, the induced revenge and blood. The lens of my camera became a mirror of someone’s tragedy, a cast of my memory.”