The threat of apocalypse is omnipresent in Israeli society. Since this threat is built into daily life, the notion of "togetherness" has become an essential part of Israeli culture. Pending disasters frequently call upon Israelis to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in collective solidarity. First the "in-gathering of the exiles," then the "melting pot," and more recently the "unity of Israel" are all popular expressions of this powerful ethos. At different periods these terms corresponded to the need to have unity from a broad pool of immigrants. As Israel matures, it is gradually embracing a spirit of individualism — a spirit which runs counter to the essential ideology of collectivism in early Zionist thought. Today, Israel experiences extreme moments of togetherness and disunity, as witnessed respectively during the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 and the profound polarization in the 1996 election.

In her photographs, Tiranit Barzilay captures the conflict between the collective and the individual: everyone together yet each separate. Using bomb shelters and empty rooms as stage sets awaiting human interaction, she conveys the ongoing "state of emergency" in which Israelis live. Dganit Berest’s images of masked terrorists portray the essential source of anxiety, and the rationale for collective solidarity. She manipulates the media’s icon of the evasive, faceless "enemy", rendering it the most resonant visual cliché for terrorism.