Binibining Promised Land is the result of Ergun Koken’s artist residency at The Israeli Center for Digital Art. There are approximately 30,000 Filipino guest workers living within the State of Israel. The majority are female and work as caregivers for the elderly or sick. In Tel Aviv they live in shanty town conditions around the central bus station also known as the ‘Tachana Mercazit’. On Saturdays, buses in the Tachana do not work, and this giant modernist building is occupied by guest workers, who spend their time shopping, partying and socializing in bars, clubs and shops within the compound. Beauty contests are very popular among Filipinos both at home and abroad. ‘Binibining Pilipinas’ is the most important beauty pageant in the Philippines, established in 1964. The Filipino community in Tel Aviv created their own beauty pageant in a nightclub inside the Tachana Merkazit and named it ‘Binibining Pilipinas Israel’. * Binibining: Miss, young woman in Filipino.
Three video interviews which are part of Koken Ergun’s project “Binibining Promised Land” which documents the beauty pageants of the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Israel. Koken Ergun interviews Mary Lou Sulit Muga, who talks about the social life and working conditions of the Filipino community in Israel. Doda Lina is one of the most prominent figures of the Filipino Community in Israel. She arrived in Israel in 1988 and is a “treasurer” at the FFCI (Federation of Filipino Communities in Israel). Charlene James Dandan is the organizer of Binibining Pilipinas Israel and she discusses beauty pageants. There are approximately 30,000 Filipino guest workers living within the State of Israel. The majority are female and work as caregivers for the elderly or sick. In Tel Aviv they live in shanty town conditions around the central bus station also known as the ‘Tachana Mercazit’. On Saturdays, buses in the Tachana do not work, and this giant modernist building is occupied by guest workers, who spend their time shopping, partying and socializing in bars, clubs and shops within the compound. Beauty contests are very popular among Filipinos both at home and abroad. ‘Binibining Pilipinas’ is the most important beauty pageant in the Philippines, established in 1964. The Filipino community in Tel Aviv created their own beauty pageant in a nightclub inside the Tachana Merkazit and named it ‘Binibining Pilipinas Israel’. * Binibining: Miss, young woman in Filipino.
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