Should We Watch Something? - by Gili Benita

By Gili Benita

My roommate, Eyal, started seeing Sam a few weeks before the Coronavirus outbreak. They met for the first time at the Basement Club in Queens, New York, and later matched on Tinder. When Eyal and I began to quarantine in our Queens apartment, he asked me if it would be okay for Sam to stay with us. A week into the quarantine, Sam moved in with us.

The coronavirus outbreak caught many couples, whose relationships had just begun in a difficult dilemma. How could they still see each other while practising social distancing? Is this the end of casual dating? In the case of my roommates, the answer was obvious.

Countless nights started by watching 'Mad Men' together and ended in lying down and spreading out on the sofa.  Eyal and Sam were wrapped in each other. On the other side of the couch, I sat by myself, grabbing my knees close to my chest and not interrupting them. Reluctantly, I became the third wheel in their relationship. Observing them day after day showed me an alternative to how a healthy relationship can blossom.

Every evening after we cooked dinner, we sat in the living room and contemplated the question, 'Should we watch something?'. There was food on the small coffee table, an undersized ashtray, Raw rolling papers, and a mix of weed and tobacco scattered on the table. "There is the new RuPaul episode,!" Eyal said. "Oh yes, I'm totally down for it," Sam replied.

Although they are now thousands of miles apart, with Eyal having moved back to Israel for four months and Sam still in New York, this period allowed them to experience the pandemic's fear and anxiety together.

Credits:
Photography and text – Gili Benita
Eyal Chowers
Sam Zeender

Biography
Gili Benita is an Israeli photographer based in New York City. In 2015, he started his military service as a cinematographer in the Israeli Air Force film unit, making psychological and instructional films. After his release from the military in 2016, he began his first long-term documentary project, working with 'Save a Child's Heart' in Israel and Tanzania. In 2018,   this work was exhibited at the "Local Testimony" exhibition in the Eretz Israel Museum In Tel Aviv and won the first prize in the Photographed story category. That same year he traveled to Japan for a project on the culture of Japanese loneliness: 'Kodoku,' which was published in Sabukaru, iGNANT, The Independent Photographer, Aint Bad, and Tokyo Foto Awards. In 2020, he graduated from the ICP's Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism Program, where he was awarded the Lisette Model Scholarship and the Director's Fellowship.Later that year, Gili joined Diversify Photo as a full member.