Yael Bartana

Yael Bartana, born in Kfar-Yehezkel, Israel in 1970, creates films, installations and photographs that explore the themes of identity and memory politics. Her work centers around the national consciousness propagated by her homeland and investigates concepts such as "Homeland," "Return," and "Belonging" through public rituals, ceremonies, and social diversions that reaffirm the collective identity of the nation-state. Bartana's Israeli projects deal with the impact of war, military rituals, and a sense of threat to everyday life. In 2006, she created projects in Poland about the history of Polish-Jewish relations and its influence on contemporary Polish identity. In 2011, she represented Poland for the 54th International Art Exhibition in Venice.

Bartana has had numerous solo exhibitions at prestigious institutions such as Cecilia Hilllström Gallery, Stockholm; Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Jewish Museum, Berlin; and Galleria Rafaella Cortese, Milan, among others. She has also participated in group shows at James Cohan Gallery, New York; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; São Paulo Biennial; and documenta 12, Kassel, among many others. She has won several awards, including Artes Mundi 4 (Wales, 2010), Prix Dazibao (Montreal, 2009), Nathan Gottesdiener Foundation Israeli Art Prize (2007), and Prix de Rome (Rijksakademie, Amsterdam, 2005), among others.