Gallery 1839 is hosting an exclusive, solo exhibition of 'Exile: an image of women, women as an image' by acclaimed Israeli artist and photographer Lea Golda Holterman at The Assembly Rooms in Soho London.



Golda Holterman, BA honours graduate of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, spent 18 months documenting the lives of prostitutes in the region. Until 2008, prostitution was a punishable offence in Israel. Golda Holterman explains what’s behind her images:


“I decided it was important for me to look at this community of women of lost identity not as segmented bodies but as whole individuals and icons of reality. I wanted to code the genetics of prostitution. I feel that prostitution is a concept, a cultural legitimate behaviour and a common myth that should be reviewed and analyzed.



Golda Holterman believes, women’s bodies have become normalised as sexual objects in the media of Western society, particularly photography. The danger of this approach is that the person becomes an object which can be used and disposed of.

“For me, photography is a medium of observation. Through photography, I create an alternative way to observe that a pattern of myth exists in reality: women as a perishable object of desire. If the viewer can stay with the sense of humanism, I will have achieved my goal."