Photographer and photography teacher, Bezalel Academy graduate, teaches in Bezalel and Haifa University, and one of the leading photographers active in the artistic arena. Ya’ari’s works have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Israel and the world, he is the recipient of the Gotsdiner Prize, and his works are included in international collections and leading museum collections, including the Israel Museum, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and the Jewish Museum, New York.
“My primary approach is direct photography that is aesthetically distinct and of historical reference; this serves as a tool for personal-conceptual research in the artistic arena”, says Ya’ari, “I aspire to fully utilize the technical-material qualities of photography as the pinnacle of an observation process describing the world. This is an acknowledgement of the importance and necessity of observation, but also a way to question the ability and validity of photography in creating meaning.
I believe that photography is a research tool for socio-cultural and private study, a medium more relevant and effective than ever before in art. It is essential. I am not sure there exists any other medium that can cope with the complex relations between historical knowledge and current social reality”.
Academic positions
2002-2015: Senior Lecturer, Master’s Degree Program in Fine Art, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design
2000-2015: Lecturer, Art Department, Faculty of Humanities, University of Haifa
1994-2005: Senior lecturer, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Photography Department, Jerusalem
Selected exhibitions
2014: Andrea Meislin Gallery, New York
2013: “Leap Toward Yourself”, Tel Aviv Museum of Art
2012: “Expectancy”, Galleria Martim Janda, Vienna, Austria
2011: Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel, Switzerland
2006: “Hope for long distance photography”, Tel Aviv Museum of Art
2003: Dust, Lombard/Freid Fine Art, New York
Awards
2009: Creative Encouragement Award, Israel Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport
2005: The Nathan Gottesdiener Foundation Israeli Art Prize
2004: Keren Sharet, America-Israel Fund
2000: Recipient of the 2000 Minister of Culture and Science Prize, Israel
1997: Young Artist Prize, Ministry of Education, and Culture
