The JCC of San Francisco has something pressing it wants people to know about: its upcoming ex-hibit “Pressing Matters: Harvesting Olives in Israel.”
Scheduled to run Jan. 3 through March 15, the exhibit of 10 large-scale, black-and-white photos by photographer Ofer Nov will be accompanied by Israeli olive products.
As part of the exhibit, a free olive-centric event will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Feb. 3 to mark Tu B’Shevat. It will feature an olive press demonstration and local olive vendors such as Olive O Life, Bi-Rite Market, CUESA (the Center for Urban Education About Sustainable Agriculture) and the California Olive Oil Council.
Nov is a commercial photographer for science and technology companies around the world. His work has been presented throughout Israel and recently was featured in the Peninsula JCC exhibit “Rootedness.” A resident of the Lower Galilee moshav Yodfat, he also teaches photography at the Max Stern Yezreel Valley College in Israel.
“In recent years, the agricultural field of olive trees and olive oil production has become very popular with Arabs and Jews alike,” Nov said. “Because of this, olive growers have become a very special segment of people within Israel. As a resident of Galilee, I have lived among the olive fields, and worked during the harvest. To photograph all of this has completed my world.”
The photos can be viewed in the Katz Snyder Gallery at the JCCSF, 3200 California St., during regular JCC hours. For more information, visit www.jccsf.org.