“I am a poor soldier and suffering artist. Each day I upload a photo took in the IDF. Orev Givati. Enjoy!”
On October 6th, Staff Sergeant Lavi Lipshitz, photographer and soldier, uploaded a photo to his Instagram account of a building in an army outpost during twilight. The next day, October 7th, he fought in the battle to rescue the inhabitants of Kibbutz Nahal Oz. Three weeks later, in the war for the country’s security, Lavi and his friend Roei Wolf were killed by an anti-tank missile in a building where they were positioned during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip.
Although Lavi was serving as a combat soldier in the Givati Reconnaissance Unit, he did not give up his passion for photography. On May 14th, 2023, he opened an Instagram page called “Till When – Photo Diary.” Almost every day, he uploaded a photo from his army service.
His photos focus on the day-to-day moments of army life: a military vehicle, a cracked mirror, a ray of light, toilets. The photos showcase the army as a domain of the simple life, nuanced and complex. They do not feature combat or military operations but pick out low-key moments and places. Lavi discovered an aesthetic quality in those moments. He chose to record them, and at the same time, bestowed artistic expression on them.
His camera, a Fujifilm XT-4 that holds the last moments he recorded, did not return from the battlefield.
