Head to the Mosaic Rooms on Cromwell Road for a rare exhibition featuring photos from Israel this month.

From Palestine to Israel: A Photographic Record of Destruction & State Formation is an exhibition documenting the early years of the Israeli state. The show is curated by visual theorist Ariella Azoulay.

These photos, previously confined to Israeli state archives, depict four crucial years in the history of Palestine / Israel: 1947 to 1950. This is the first time that many of these images have been seen outside Israel.

Visit the show, and you’ll see more than 200 striking images, illustrating the story behind the first years of the Israeli State and its relationship with the remaining Palestinians.

The photos tell the story of how the Palestinian majority in Mandatory Palestine became a minority in Israel, while the Jewish minority established a new political entity becoming a majority ruling a minority Palestinian population.

As a leading visual theorist, Azoulay is able to provide fascinating analytical explanation of the images. Azoulay says,

“The constituent violence recorded in photos from these years should not be mistakenly and anachronistically read as signs of unavoidable national conflict. What was and still is truly unavoidable is not national conflict, but rather co-existence of Jews and Palestinians in a shared territory and the open space for a variety of forms to shape, practice, express and represent this co-existence.”

The exhibition, which runs from 4 to 25 November, will be accompanied by a series of talks on the relationship between archival photography, film and the writing (or re-writing) of history. Visit www.mosaicrooms.org/from-palestine-to-israel to find out more.

Do you know of any other examples of Israeli culture in London? Let us know in the comments below.