At an age when social, sexual, and educational explorations are at their
highest point, the life of an eighteen-year-old Israeli girl is interrupted.
She is plucked from her home surroundings and placed in a rigorous institution
where her individuality is temporarily forced aside in the name of nationalism.
During the next two years, immersed in a regimented and masculine environment,
she will be transformed from a girl to a woman, within the framework of
an army that is engaged in daily war and conflict. She is now a soldier
serving her country, in a military camp amidst hundreds like her, yet
beneath the uniform there is someone wishing to be noticed, listened to,
and understood.
Almost fifteen years after my mandatory military duty ended, I went back
to several Israeli army bases, using the medium of photography as a vehicle
to re-enter this world. Serial No. 3817131 represents my effort to come
to terms with the experiences of being a soldier from the perspective
of an adult. My service had been a period of utter loneliness, mixed with
apathy and pensiveness, and at the time I was too young to understand
it all. Through the camera’s lens, I tried to reconstruct facets
of my military life, hopeful to reconcile matters that had been left unresolved.
Walking onto an army base after all these years was very disorienting,
as memories began to surface, and blend with feelings of estrangement.
The girls who I encountered during these visits were disconnected from
the outside world, completely absorbed in their paradoxical reality. They
spoke a language now foreign to me, using phrases like “Armored
Cavalry Regiment” and “Defense Artillery.” Would it
have made any difference to explain to them that in a few years the only
thing they might remember is their serial number? Photographing these
soldiers, I saw my reflection; I was on the other side of a pane of glass—observing
a world that I had once been a part of, yet I could not go back in time
or change anything. It felt like a dream.
The photographs in this project serve as a bridge between past and present—a
combination of my own recollections and the experiences of the girls who
I observed. Each image embodies traces of things that I recognize, illuminating
fragments of my history, striking emotional cords that resonate within
me. In some way, each is a self-portrait, depicting a young woman caught
in transient moments of introspection and uncertainty, trying to make
sense of a challenging daily routine. In striving to maintain her gentleness
and femininity, the soldier seems to be questioning her own identity,
embracing the fact that two years of her youth will be spent in a wistful
compromise.
— Rachel Papo
Serial No. 3817131
by Rachel Papo
Hardback
128 pages
290 x 230 mm
powerHouse Books 2008
ISBN: 9781576874318
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Book reviewSerial No. 3817131
At an age when social, sexual, and educational explorations are at their highest point, the life of an eighteen-year-old Israeli girl is interrupted to serve in an army involved in daily conflict and war. Rachel Papo was inducted into the Israeli Army when she turned 18. Fifteen years later,...View Images
Book review
Serial No. 3817131
At an age when social, sexual, and educational explorations are at their highest point, the life of an eighteen-year-old Israeli girl is interrupted to serve in an army involved in daily conflict and war. Rachel Papo was inducted into the Israeli Army when she turned 18. Fifteen years later,...
Serial No. 3817131
At an age when social, sexual, and educational explorations are at their highest point, the life of an eighteen-year-old Israeli girl is interrupted to serve in an army involved in daily conflict and war. Rachel Papo was inducted into the Israeli Army when she turned 18. Fifteen years later, armed only with her camera, she decided to go back to see if it was as bad as she remembered.