Yael Shachar

Photographer and movie director, teaches photography in the communications major of the Reali School, Haifa; graduated with honors from the Musrara School Photography Department; laurate of the Jerusalem Mayor Prize for Graduation Project (2001). Has presented a number of solo exhibitions, including in the Tova Osman Gallery in Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan Museum of Israeli Art, Mika Gallery in Tel Aviv. She has participated in group exhibitions in the Spaceship Gallery in Tel Aviv, Fresh Paint Fair, Tel Aviv Artists House, and in New York, Miami and more. Has created an international award-winning documentary film entitled Melissa MOM and Me, which has been screened at numerous international festivals, including Hot Docs Toronto, and on documentary television networks around the globe. The film won first place in the Best Television Film category for 2011, in the International Association of Women in Radio and Television Women Independence Festival in Malaysia; and the award for best screenplay in the Documentary Film Festival in Philadelphia.

Jan Tichy

Multidisciplinary artist working in video installation and photography. Senior lecturer at the Chicago Art Institute School, works in Israel and the United States. Graduated with honors from the Musrara School Photography Department (2002). Studied political science and general studies in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, art in the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, and MFA studies in the Sculpture Department of the Chicago Institute of Art School, United States. Was awarded the Ministry of Science, Culture and Sport Prize for a Young Artist and the prestigious Gotsdiner Foundation Award for Israeli Artists, awarded by the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Has presented solo exhibitions in the Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art; Contemporary Art Museum in Chicago, United States; Tel Aviv Museum of Art; and other leading museums and galleries in Israel and around the world.

Raad Bouaya

Born in 1971 in the Qatanna village near Jerusalem. His childhood and youth were distinguished by survival and various jobs such as shepherd, construction worker in Israeli settlements and vendor in the Jerusalem Old City market, where he was first exposed to the medium of photography. In the early 2000s he studied at the Musrara School in Jerusalem. Upon graduating in 2006 he was accepted to the Parisian Cité residency program, and has lived in the city ever since, leaving it occasionally for photography excursions. At the heart of his work are the people of Qatanna, which he visits from time to time; however, his oeuvre is much more expansive, comprising photographs from various locations in Europe, Africa, South America, and Asia.

Guy Itzhaki

Photographer and programmer, creates works that combine photography, video, programming, and projection. Graduated with honors from the Musrara School Photography Department (2007). Has won the Jerusalem Mayor Prize for Graduation Project. Graduated with honors from his BA studies of mathematics and computer science. Was a member of the Jerusalemite artists group Hagigit, which created collaborative projects in public spaces and published photography and poetry booklets. Has presented solo exhibitions in the Ramat Gan Museum of Israeli Art, Mamuta Gallery in Jerusalem, and the Hadassah College Photography Gallery in Jerusalem. Participated in group exhibitions in the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Moscow Biennale for Young Artists, Center of Digital Art in Los Angeles, Insanitus Festival in Lithuania and more. Presented at the third and fourth Fresh Paint fairs in Tel Aviv and at the opening eve of the artistic year in Tel Aviv, alongside Israeli signer Ivri Lider. Won the Sharett Foundation Excellence Scholarship, the Art Beaujolais Award of Excellence, award of excellence from the Institute for the Study of Rationality, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and others. He has a number of patents registered in his name.

Orit Ishay

Artist working in photography, video, and installation. Lecturer at the School of Art, Sapir Academic College. Graduated with honors from the post-graduate art program of the Midrasha for Art, Beit Berl (2012), graduate of the Arts in Education program of David Yellin College, Jerusalem (2007), and graduated with honors from the Photography Department of the Musrara School, Jerusalem (2006). Has won prizes and scholarships, including the Yehoshua Rabinovich Foundation Plastic Art Grant (2009, 2020); Talpiot Artists’ Studios, Jerusalem (2015, 2020); Gottesman Etching Center Workshop in Kabri (2011, 2018); artist-in-residency and solo-exhibition scholarship in Bucharest, Romania (2018); Anca Poterasue Bucharest Gallery solo-exhibition grant (sponsored by the Romanian Ministry of Culture and the gallery, 2018); Excellence in Photography Award and support in the publication of a book, Eikon International (2016); Petah Tikva Museum Scholarship for Video Work (2015); residency in MuseumQuartier 21 Vienna, Austria (2014); Jerusalem Print Workshop (2012); Sharett America-Israel Foundation Scholarship (2006-2008); and others. Has presented solo exhibitions and participated in group exhibitions in the Herzliya Museum of Art, Israel Museum, Contemporary Art Museum in Bucharest, Museum of Art in Seoul, Hamidrasha Gallery, Jerusalem Artists’ Studios, and others. Her works are among the collections of museums and institutions, as well as private collections in Israel and around the world, including the Israel Museum, MUMOK Museum of Modern Art Vienna, Ashdod Museum of Art, MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art Krakow, Center for Digital Art, and others. Ishay’s art examines the interrelation between man and place and addresses questions pertaining to social and mental issues through local and international temporal and spatial motifs, where she stresses the foundations upon which identities are built. Ishay represents reality in a deceptive, seductive, and aesthetical fashion.

Micha Simhon

Photographer, writer, and social activist. Has presented many solo and group exhibitions. Graduated with honors from the Sociology and Anthropology Department of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, after which he studied photography at the Musrara School. His photography works are studio shots against a black background, with classical painting-style lighting, combining social texts.
His debut novel Trail of Ants was published in 2018.

Racheli Cohen

Studio photographer, initiates art projects and instructor of photography workshops. Graduate of the Photography Department of Musrara School (2009). Holds a teaching certificate and MA in Visual Literacy from Kibbutzim College. Has participated in group exhibitions in Jerusalem and presented a solo exhibition in David Yellin College’s Social Gallery, Jerusalem.

Gaston Zvi Ickowicz

Photographer, graduated with honors from the Musrara School of Photography in 2000, and from the post-graduate Art and Photography program at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in 2008. His works have been exhibited in museums and galleries in Israel and around the world. He lectures in the Musrara School’s Photography Department, Bezalel’s Visual Communication Department, and the College of Management’s Interior Design Department. In 2008 he won the Gerard Levi Prize for Young Photographers, awarded by the Israel Museum, and in 2010 he won Ministry of Science, Culture and Sport Prize for Young Artists.

Yael Brandt

Works in stills photography, filming and campaign photography, lives in Tel Aviv. Graduated with honors from the Musrara School Department of Photography, won the Jerusalem Mayor Prize for Graduation Project (2010). Studied in the post-graduate art program of the Midrasha for Art, Beit Berl, and philosophy and art history at Tel Aviv University. Has participated in the art performance project “Circus”, which traveled in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany, as well as in group exhibitions in Israel and around the world, including in the Photography Biennale in Amsterdam, Andrea Meislin Gallery in New York, Center of Contemporary Art in Tel Aviv, and the Center of Digital Art in Holon. Presented a solo exhibition in the framework of the “First Friday” series in the Ramat Gan Museum of Israeli Art. Has shot a fashion catalogue for the designer Keren Gruss and created photographs for a campaign for the Musrara School in Jerusalem.

Nevet Yitzhak

Israeli video and installation artist who builds installations using archival materials. Laurate of the Beatrice Kolliner Prize, awarded by the Israel Museum; Ministry of Science, Culture and Sport Prize to Encourage Creativity; Tel Aviv Museum Givon Prize; and the Landau Pais Prize.
Studied photography and digital visualization at Hadassah College, art at the Musrara School, and MFA at Bezalel.
Member of the Beatrice Kolliner Prize committee, which she won herself in 2014. The committee stated at the time that, “Many of the installations created by Yitzhak are in dialogue with Muslin culture, through artistic sources such as Persian carpets, manuscripts, and other objects, or through the music of Farid al-Atrash and Umm Kulthum. The allusion to these sources is interwoven in her work, within the fragile and charged relationship between Islam and today’s Israel”.

Itai Nadav

Graduate of the Musrara School Photography Department, Jerusalem (2007), laurate of the Landa Foundation Excellence Prize. Holds a B.Ed with a major in communications and informal education from David Yellin College, Jerusalem. Lecturer in programming courses in the Musrara School. Partner in a photography studio in Jerusalem for the religious-orthodox sector. Publishes professional articles in the blog “Meta-Data”, co-founder of the Jerusalemite artists group Hagigit, which created collaborative projects in public spaces. Works in photography, digital art and video art. Combines in his work photography which employs online platforms, and smartphone and tablet apps.

Nikita Pavlov

Multidisciplinary artist, photographer, and film director working in Israel, Russia, and Germany. Graduate of the Musrara School Photography Department (2011), laurate of an excellence prize for his graduation project. Created photography series, which have appeared in magazines and books. Has worked as a photographer for an online magazine in Russia, presented solo exhibitions, and participated in group exhibitions in Russia and Israel. Won second place in the Local Documentary-Journalism exhibition in Israel, in addition to other awards.

Shira Horesh

Video and photography artist and poet. Graduate of the Musrara School’s Photography Department (2013); won the Jerusalem Mayor Prize for Graduation Project. Member of the cooperative Indie gallery. Participated in group exhibitions in the Inga Gallery in Tel Aviv, International Photography Festival in Rishon LeZion and the Open Museum of Photography in Tel Hai. Took part in the Fresh Paint Festival artists’ greenhouse. Her poems have been published in the poetry journal Maayan and the art magazine Harama. Her debut book was published in 2015.

Michal Tobiass

Artist practicing photography, video, installation, and curation. Graduate of the Musrara School Photography Department (2012), laurate of the Mayor Prize for Excellence in the Graduation Project. Has presented a solo exhibition (“Politics of Plaster”, 2013) at the Ramat Gan Museum of Art and curated two exhibitions at Musrara School’s galleries (“La Saison des Éclipses” and “Body Sentence”). Participated in the seventh Fresh Paint Festival artists’ greenhouse (2014) and is currently studying for her MFA at Bezalel.