W-Women Globally

Liora Tzur Photography

First steps

Just as light is a central component of her name – from the day she is born there begins the journey into the present world, a world of light, color, and a pair of examining eyes.
It was perhaps the sunniest day of the year – Tel-Aviv, the 2nd of August at two in the afternoon as the sun was blazing in the center of the sky like a ball of fire – that same ball of fire has been nesting in Liora’s belly since.
At the age of two was the first time that landscape had changed in Liora’s eyes. Her family was sent on an expedition to England and for a couple of years would live in a small, picturesque town in the Lake District up north.
Transitions from country to country, with intervals in Israel every now and again, would become a routine in the family’s life in the upcoming years, and that same pair of observing eyes would continue to examine and internalize the changing sceneries and the varying colors of the changing seasons, the people, the cultures and the different languages spoken around them.
For Liora, the way of observing the whole world had become an observation of compositions of shapes and colors, light and movement, and intriguing figures. All these had usually created breath-taking scenes in that they appeared as a momentary illusion – one that slips away in the blink of an eye. 

“Despite all of this, these are exactly the moments of truth. These are stolen split-seconds, bits of life that stand out in an endless sequence of frames and pictures, the film of life. These are moments that exist in between breaths, in between “one blink of an eye to the next there is that single moment of unveiled honesty.”
These are the precise magical moments to which Liora loves to bestow an infinite life. The perpetuation of these moments with the aid of the camera enables one to observe them over and over without the fear of them slipping away, while at the same time these moments still appear to belong to a world that is essentially between illusion and “reality.”

Wandering teaches that that everything is ephemeral, except those split-seconds in time which have managed to be sketched / etched / printed in light forever, to be fixed on paper and to be a living testimony of someone or something which once was, but its impression is still with us now, in a different time. It is just as equivalent to the light of a star which has already died out in its world, but its light still shines in a different place and time.

Gaining experience

Liora began her photography studies at Wizo College in Haifa. During her studies, when every photo-set is a huge production in itself, Liora was not only the photographer but also the fashion designer, jewelry-maker, stylist, and in the midst of it all – also the make-up artist of her models who, in many cases, were not professional models. Thus, Liora’s photographic thinking did not only consist of the idea or concept for the photograph, but also the production and execution down to the last detail.
Developing these skills and designing abilities gave an added tone to Liora’s creative freedom – an aspect that still characterizes her artwork till this day.
This was also the period in which Liora made her first connections with the fashion world.
Upon finishing her studies, Liora hit Fashion Capital – Milan, to feel the Italian Classic on her own flesh. The experience was graceful and magical. This was also the notion that a couple of respected fashion agencies shared with her – Riccardo Guy and Italy Model Management, to which Liora photographed steadily as freelance.

Liora returned to Israel with the idea of integrating fashion photography in the curriculum of the Camera Obscura photography colleges (Tel-Aviv and Haifa) as a source of inspiration and as is proper for an art-field.
In 2000 – left Israel for New York where she stayed for two years, working on fashion photography and portraits. In 2001, she won the title “Best Cover Photographer of 2001″ – an award granted to her by a New York Magazine of art, culture and fashion.
A year later, Liora exhibited her artwork for the first time in a one-man’s exhibition in a gallery located in New York’s East Village. As a follow-up, she had two more exhibitions in New York.

Searching for inspiration

“Divinity is not connected to religion. It is rather connected to the purity of heart and soul, to the Creation, to the work of art, to one’s libido and creativity, to honesty”.
Liora’s photography comes from that very place of honesty, from a quest for some sort of cosmic truth, a quest that has lead her, amongst other things, to the persistence of learning and practicing Yoga for the past ten years.
“Yoga embodies honesty. During a Yoga practice, man meets his own self, face to face, so there is no where to run – he can only receive.”
This is where Liora would like to thank her Yoga teacher, Laura Kestenbaum, whose “larger-than-life personality,” as Liora says “has taught me the meaning of full acceptance of any person, empathy, attention and quiet observation.”

“As in photography, in Yoga, too, I discover the same process of finding the balance between inside and outside, between my interiority and exteriority. It is like a straight line of personal objectivity that is not subjective.

Liora has been occupied with Divinity and the Power of Creation in her latest artwork. Life and the circle of life have deepened her research about the female figure / woman as a Creation, as a giver of life, the woman-goddess – her strength and intensity going hand in hand with her beauty, tenderness and flow.
Mother of all women in the world – Eve – “Just as the color white contains within it all colors of the rainbow,
So, too, did Eve contain within herself all the types of women that exist today on Earth.”

The vision of the art

“My art is intended to captivate and fascinate, not to shock. There are enough shocking images in the world as it is.
Observation itself can cause and create a change within the human being. Observation leads to a physical and mental consciousness, to a reaction in the brain, to acknowledgement, wherefrom to the awareness of awakening or changing feelings and, eventually, to a change in one’s mood.
No, the artist has never invented anything new – nature did everything beforehand. The artist reflects things in a way that they will be seen better and more emphasized.
Any reaction that occurs is the precise point where the artist and the viewer meet – there is a touch.
Hence, this is why it is of such importance to me to fascinate and not shock the viewer. In addition, it is because human eyes are so used to seeing the harsh images surrounding us, and are almost insensitive to the gentle and fragile. These are like a frequency that most eyes have become insensitive to”.

Source: Liora Tzur

Liora is the also the author of the photo theme of W’Women Globally, (see under ‘About’).

Meet Liora at her website.