Yaakov Israel (b. 1974) is a photographer living in Jerusalem. He received an M.A in Policy & Theory of the Arts and a B.F.A in photography from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. His work has been exhibited in solo and group shows internationally and featured in many magazines. He has published two monographs, The Quest for the Man on the White Donkey (Schilt Publishing, 2012) and Legitimacy of Landscape (Verlag Kettler, 2015). Israel is a winner of PHotoEspaña Descubrimientos award and the Conscientious portfolio competition and his photographs are part of the collections of the Knesset, Haifa Museum of Art, The Museum of Photography at Tel-Hai, and the Ashdod Art Museum. Israel’s long-term projects reflect on the way the religious, social and political worlds he encounters as he traverses his country affect and create his personal reality: “As a person who takes an interest in my surroundings, I find that I return again and again to the same places, and these places and their inhabitants have become vital parts of my biography.” His projects represent an ongoing investigation of identities in Israel as perceived through architecture, landscape and the country’s diverse population. In many of his series Israel uses the language of straight photography to tell stories about the way he experiences his complex homeland. Over recent years he has been experimenting with the use of documentary style images to construct fictional narratives in ways reminiscent of literature.
Yaakov Israel (b. 1974) is a photographer living in Jerusalem. He received an M.A in Policy & Theory of the Arts and a B.F.A in photography from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. His work has been exhibited in solo and group shows internationally and featured in many magazines. He has published two monographs, The Quest for the Man on the White Donkey (Schilt Publishing, 2012) and Legitimacy of Landscape (Verlag Kettler, 2015). Israel is a winner of PHotoEspaña Descubrimientos award and the Conscientious portfolio competition and his photographs are part of the collections of the Knesset, Haifa Museum of Art, The Museum of Photography at Tel-Hai, and the Ashdod Art Museum. Israel’s long-term projects reflect on the way the religious, social and political worlds he encounters as he traverses his country affect and create his personal reality: “As a person who takes an interest in my surroundings, I find that I return again and again to the same places, and these places and their inhabitants have become vital parts of my biography.” His projects represent an ongoing investigation of identities in Israel as perceived through architecture, landscape and the country’s diverse population. In many of his series Israel uses the language of straight photography to tell stories about the way he experiences his complex homeland. Over recent years he has been experimenting with the use of documentary style images to construct fictional narratives in ways reminiscent of literature.
