The neighborhood around central bus station in Tel Aviv - Neve Sha’anan, is infamous for its crime rates, poverty, prostitution and drug addicts. There, among other things i found around 20, more or less, hidden African Christian churches. This area is an underground spiritual center of Tel Aviv. Most of the churches were established by illigal immigrants driven away into this area.
Local government, for the most part, ignores the issues of the district and promotes rampant gentrification in hopes that higher rent prices will make all the 'problems' to literary migrate somewhere else.
I started visiting churches, they became familiar with me to the point of allowing me to continue with the project. I set a few boundaries for myself to not to endanger anyone involved (unwanted attention from government, possible unauthorised immigrants exposure): there is no straight portrait shots, no locations, no names, no crowd shots.
With this project i want to explore the unique religious and cultural characteristics of specific community, to make a snapshot of this life before it possible disturbance (or destruction) by ongoing gentrification. To promote diversity in a country that predominantly practices only one religion (on a government level especially).
