Yael Ben-Zion is a New York-based visual artist and educator working primarily in photography. Her work draws on personal narratives, or hints thereof, to reflect on the complexities of social and political issues. Yael’s practice consists of long-term lens-based projects that involve extensive research and continuing collaboration with her subjects, on or off camera. Yael was born in Minneapolis, MN and raised in Israel. She is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (LL.B/MBA), Yale Law School (LL.M; J.S.D) and the International Center of Photography (GS). Yael’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is included in the MTA-Artists Unite Subway Elevator Poster Project and in the collections of the National Library of Israel, Toronto Public Library, and NYPL. She is the recipient of ICP’s Directors’ Scholarship Award, the International Photography Awards and grants from NoMAA, the Puffin Foundation and LMCC’s Creative Engagement. Yael’s first monograph, 5683 miles away (Kehrer, 2010), was selected as one of photo-eye’s Best Books of 2010 and for the PDN Photo Annual 2011. It was also a nominee for the German Photo Book Award 2011. Her second monograph, Intermarried (Kehrer, 2014), was selected for American Photography 30 and featured, among others, in the NY Times Sunday Review, PDN Magazine and in the season finale of CUNY-TV Shades of U.S.

2023
The Face of Justice: Amplifying the Voices of West Harlem Women Artists, The Kota Alliance, New York, NY (curator)

2022
Being There, Buunni Inwood, New York, NY 

2018
Still Lives, Word Up Community Bookshop, New York, NY 

2017
5683 miles away, curated by Prof. Simcha Shirman, Morel Derfler Gallery, The NB Haifa School of Design, Haifa, Israel 

2015
Works, Gaa Gallery, Wellfleet, MA 

Building Bridges, YM&YWHA of Washington Heights and Inwood, New York, NY 

2014
Intermarried, in conjunction with Project Y’s production of Renee Calarco’s play The Religion Thing, the Cell Theatre, New York, NY 

Intermarried, curated by Gabriel de Guzman, Word Up Community Bookshop, New York, NY 

Intermarried, Café Buunni, New York, NY 

Intermarried, Chapin School, New York, NY 

Intermarried, curated by Gabriel de Guzman, La Galeria at Boricua College, New York, NY

2013
Intermarried, Café Buunni, New York, NY

2012
Lost and Found, Le Chéile Art Space, New York, NY

5683 miles away, The Gold Wing Gallery, Hebrew Tabernacle Congregation, NY, NY

2011
5683 miles away, The Milton J. Weill Art Gallery, The 92nd Street Y, New York, NY

2007
The City Elders, National Family Caregiver Month Exhibition, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY

2024

Women in the Heights: DRESS, curated by Andrea Arroyo, NoMAA Gallery 4140 Broadway, New York, NY

Time to Meet Mother Nature, curated by Regina Gradess, The Armin and Estelle Gold Wing Art Gallery of the Hebrew Tabernacle, New York, NY

2023
A Celebration of Light – A Celebration of Humanity, The Kota Alliance, New York, NY (participant and organizer)

Women in the Heights: Women of Substance, Past, Present, Future, curated by Andrea Arroyo, NoMAA Gallery 4140 Broadway, New York, NY

2022
Creating Home: Immigrant Perspectives, NoMAA Gallery @ 4140 Broadway, New York, NY

care:work, curated by Deborah Schwartz, 2022 Photoville festival, Brooklyn, NY

Women in the Heights – Up Close and Personal, curated by Andrea Arroyo, NoMAA Gallery, New York, NY 

2021
In Praise of the Shadows, curated by Hanita Elizur, the Art Workshop Gallery, Yavne, Israel

100 Visions of Fatherhood, online exhibition curated by The Luupe 

2020
Somerville Toy Camera Festival, online galleries juried by Alison Nordström & Lou Jones

Corona: It’s All About the Light, the Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA, online exhibition 

Healing and Community: Physical to Virtual, curated by Patricia Miranda, NoMAA online exhibition 

NoMAA’s Women in the Heights – Creating for the Future, curated by Andrea Arroyo, Rio II Gallery, New York, NY 

2019
NoMAA’s Women in the Heights – Creating for Change, curated by Andrea Arroyo, Rio II Gallery, New York, NY

2018
The Smack Mellon Benefit Exhibition, Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY

Currents: Abortion, Curated by Barbara Zucker, A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

Call and Response: Art as Resistance, Slideshow & Performance, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA

2017
Uproot, curated by Gabriel de Guzman, Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY 

Abre Caminos / Opening Paths, curated by Esperanza Cortés, Rio II Gallery, NY, NY

Artists Unite-MTA Poster Project, 40 Poster Exhibit Group Show, Hudson View Gardens Lounge, New York, NY

Unnatural Election: Artists Respond to the 2016 US Presidential Election, curated by Andrea Arroyo, Kimmel Galleries, New York University, NY, NY

2016
Tribute to the Disappeared, curated by Andrea Arroyo, Center for Worker Education, the City College of New York, NY

Cats + Creatures, Gaa Gallery, Provincetown, MA 

There is a Garden, and it Exists, organized by the students of MassArt’s FA2D Professional Practices, Distillery Gallery, Boston, MA 

2015
Power, Protest, and Resistance: The Art of Revolution, curated by Danny Simmons and Oshun Layne, Salena Gallery, Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY 

Not MY Family Values, curated by Rebecca Senf, Art Photo Index online exhibition

2014
NoMAA Uptown Arts Review, curated by Rosa Naparstek, NoMAA Gallery, NY, NY 

TokoNoMAA: Stories of Home in the Heights, a NoMAA-MoMA multidisciplinary project, The Gold Wing Gallery, Hebrew Tabernacle Congregation, NY, NY 

2013
Family, Juried by Katherine Ware, The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO

Curate NYC, online exhibition curated by Wim van Sinderen 

Experiencing a Time of War and Beyond: Portraits of Spirited Holocaust Survivors, three-person exhibition, The Gold Wing Gallery, Hebrew Tabernacle Congregation, NY, NY 

The Photo Review Best of Show, Juried by Paul Roth, The University of the Arts’ Gallery 1401, Philadelphia, PA

Immigrant Too, curated by Gabriel de Guzman, NoMAA Gallery, NY, NY 

I Have a Dream – 50 Years of Change, juried by Andrea Arroyo, Grady Alexis Gallery, NY, NY

4th Annual Contemporary Photography Competition & Exhibition, juried by Lesley Martin and Andy Adams, Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, Philadelphia, PA 

Dimensions Variable: Multiracial Identity, curated by Gabriel de Guzman, Rush Arts Gallery, New York, NY 

PhotoSpiva Exhibition, juried by Natasha Egan, Spiva Center for the Arts, Joplin, MO 

2012
Mimesis: A Contemporary Photography Exhibition, juried by Pamela Pecchio, 311 West Martin Street Galleries, Raleigh, NC 

NoMAA Visual Art Grantees Exhibition, curated by Rocio Aranda-Alvarado, NoMAA Gallery, New York, NY

Women in the Heights – Intersections, curated by Andrea Arroyo, NoMAA Gallery, NY, NY

2011
The party’s in the kitchen, online exhibition curated by Christopher Rauschenberg

Photographers Photographing Now, Yale Digital Coffee online exhibition

2009
Photo Folio Gallery, Les Rencontres d’Arles, Arles, France

2008
Urban Space 08, photographic traveling exhibition premiering at KiM, Berlin, Germany 

2007
LightPROOF, Full Time Student Exhibition, ICP, New York, NY 

2003
Yale School of Art Intermediate Photography Show, PABA Gallery, New Haven, CT

Building Bridges – Interfaith Family Project, New York, NY

MTA-Artists Unite Subway Elevator Poster Project, New York, NY

National Library of Israel

Toronto Public Library

New York Public Library

2023

Using Innovative Literacies to Develop Leadership and Agency: Inspiring Transformation and Hope, Chapter 1: Literacy and Photography as Tools to Propel Stories of Self-Leadership and Change (with Limor Pinhasi-Vittorio), published by IGI Global

2020
Lens Magazine, Issue #71 – The Middle East, August 2020

Leading through a Different Lens: Using Literacy and Photography to Examine Our Personal and Communal Narratives (Pinhasi-Vittorio, L. & Ben-Zion, Y. (Eds.)), Lehman College, June 2020

Healing and Community, exhibition catalog

2018
Don’t Smile – Year Two Zine, published by Don’t Smile

2016
There is a Garden, and it Exists, exhibition catalogue

2014
American Photography 30, published by Amilus, Inc.

2013
Intermarried, monograph published by Kehrer Verlag

2010
5683 miles away, monograph published by Kehrer Verlag

2009
Green Wedding, by Mireya Navarro

2007
Shift, ICP Full Time Student Catalogue, Vol. 2

American Photography 23, published by Amilus, Inc.

2003
Palimpsest, Yale Literary and Arts Magazine, Vol. 1

2022
LMCC’s Creative Engagement Grant

2016
CCNY’s Annual Juried Photography Competition, Honorable Mention

2015
UJA-Federation of NY Grant for a collaborative project with YM&YWHA of Washington Heights and Inwood

2014
American Photography 30, Selected for the Book

International Photography Awards, 2 Honorable Mentions

Moscow International Foto Awards, Honorable Mention

2013
The Photo Review Competition, 12th Prize

Photolucida Critical Mass, Finalist

The Leopold Godowsky, Jr. Color Photography Awards, Nominee

NoMAA Creative Grant

2012
Puffin Foundation Grant

NoMAA Creative Grant

2011
PDN Photo Annual, Winner, Photo Books Category

German Photo Book Award, Nominee

International Photography Awards, 3 Honorable Mentions

2010
photo-eye’s Best Books of 2010

2009
International Photography Awards, 2nd Place in People: Family and 5 Honorable Mentions

The Photo Review Competition, Finalist

2008
Hasselblad Masters Award, Semi-Finalist

Urban Space 08, Honorable Mention

2007
American Photography 23, Selected for the Book, Cover Photograph

ICP’s Directors’ Scholarship Award

2023
The Kota Alliance, The Face of Justice: Artist Q&A, New york, NY (moderator)

2022
Buunni Inwood, New York, NY

NoMAA Gallery, New York, NY

2020
Healing and Community: Physical to Virtual (virtual)

Women in the Heights (virtual)

2019
Rio II Gallery, New York, NY

2018
Word Up Community Bookshop, New York, NY (panel discussion with Marcus Moore, Maaji Newbold and Michael Deegan, moderated by Veronica Liu, and performance by Marcus Moore and Maaji Newbold)

2017
Smack Mellon, New York, NY (performance by, and conversation with, Marcus Moore)

Rio II Gallery, New York, NY

Morel Derfler Gallery, The NB Haifa School of Design, Haifa, Israel

2016
Rio II Gallery, New York, NY

The Beekman School, New York, NY (workshop)

2015
The Beekman School, New York, NY

International Center of Photography School, New York, NY

2014
The City Congregation for Humanistic Judaism, New York, NY

Second Annual Jewish Book Festival of the JCCs of Greater Toronto, Prosserman JCC, Vaughan, ON

Horizon Books, Traverse City, MI (conversation with George Slade)

The Cell Theatre, New York, NY (talkback with Michole Biancosino)

Big Blue Marble Book Store, Philadelphia, PA (conversation with Rabbi Linda Holtzman)

Westchester Photographic Society, Westchester Community College, Valhalla, NY

Word Up Community Bookshop, New York, NY (conversation with Lise Funderburg, moderated by Gabriel de Guzman)

Chapin School, New York, NY (workshop)

La Galeria at Boricua College, New York, NY

2013
NoMAA Gallery, New York, NY

Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ

Rush Arts Gallery, New York, NY

2012
Le Chéile Art Space, New York, NY

NoMAA Gallery, New York, NY

2011
Yale University Digital Coffee, New Haven, CT, June 22, 2011 (workshop)

International Center of Photography School, New York, NY

The Milton J. Weill Art Gallery, The 92nd Street Y, New York

2010
Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT

Community Word Project, New York, NY, Teaching Artist Project

International Center of Photography, New York, NY, General Studies Program

New School University, New York, NY, Color Printing

Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT, Introductory and Intermediate Photography

Yale Law School, New Haven, CT, J.S.D. (Lillian Goldman Scholar)

Yale Law School, New Haven, CT, LL.M.

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, LL.B/MBA (magna cum laude)