Gilad Perez

Gilad Perez
Name	Gilad Perez
Birth date	1983
Birth place	Tel Aviv, Israel
Occupation	Photographer, visual artist, curator
Nationality	Israeli

Gilad Perez is an Israeli photographer and visual artist known for documentary and staged portraiture that engages with urban landscapes, social identities, and memory. His work has been exhibited in museums, galleries, and festivals across Europe, North America, and Asia, and has been featured in periodicals and monographs dedicated to contemporary photography. Perez has collaborated with cultural institutions, non-governmental organizations, and academic centers, contributing to discourse on visual culture and public space.

Early life and education

Perez was born in Tel Aviv and raised in the metropolitan region of Tel Aviv-Yafo. He studied photography and visual arts at institutions in Israel and abroad, including programs associated with the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, the Beit Berl College, and exchange workshops linked to the School of Visual Arts in New York and the Royal College of Art in London. During his formative years he took part in artist residencies at venues connected to the Jerusalem Print Workshop and the Haifa Museum of Art, and attended masterclasses given by practitioners from the Magnum Photos cooperative and the International Center of Photography. His education combined practical studio practice with historical study of photographic movements such as work by figures represented in the Museum of Modern Art and the Tate Modern collections.

Career

Perez's early professional work included commissions for editorial outlets and collaborative projects with cultural festivals such as the Jerusalem Film Festival, the Tel Aviv International Salon of Photography and the Venice Biennale–adjacent programs. He has held solo and group exhibitions at institutions including the Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Centre Pompidou satellite programs. Perez also worked as a visual consultant for performing arts companies like the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and theater companies affiliated with the Habima National Theatre.

In the curatorial sphere he organized thematic exhibitions with partners from the British Council, the Institut Français, and the Goethe-Institut, producing catalogues and public talks with contributors from the University of Oxford, Columbia University, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He participated in residencies funded by foundations such as the Jerusalem Foundation, the Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) and the Getty Foundation. Perez has taught workshops and seminars at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and guest-lectured at programs connected to the Pratt Institute, the Rhode Island School of Design, and the University of the Arts London.

Notable works and achievements

Perez is known for series that interrogate urban marginality and constructed identities through portraiture and staged mise-en-scène. One seminal project juxtaposed documentary frames of neighborhoods in Jaffa with formal portraits referencing cinematic tableaux found in collections at the Israel Museum and the National Gallery, London. Another project focused on transit spaces such as the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station and the Ben Gurion Airport, producing images that were exhibited during festivals in Berlin, New York City, and Tokyo.

His photographs have been included in group exhibitions alongside work by artists associated with the Documenta program and the Whitney Biennial alumni, and have been published in journals such as the British Journal of Photography, the Aperture magazine and Photoworks. Perez contributed essays and photographic portfolios to catalogues produced by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Baltimore Museum of Art. He collaborated on interdisciplinary projects with scholars from the SOAS University of London and the University of Chicago to explore urban studies and visual anthropology.

Awards and recognition

Perez received grants and fellowships from organizations including the Israel Lottery Council for Culture and Arts, the Artis Grant, and the Prince Claus Fund. He was shortlisted for prizes administered by the Sony World Photography Awards and the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation, and was a finalist in competitions hosted by the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize and the Leica Oskar Barnack Award. His work has been recognized with residency awards from the Dublin City Council cultural program and the Cité internationale des arts in Paris.

Institutions such as the National Library of Israel and private collections in London, Berlin, and New York City have acquired his prints. He was invited to juries and panels alongside curators from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the National Gallery of Art.

Personal life

Perez resides in Tel Aviv and maintains studios in both urban and peri-urban locations. He has family ties to communities across the Mediterranean and has engaged with diasporic networks connected to the Jewish Museum, New York and the Yad Vashem archive. In his personal practice he maintains a library of photography and theory that includes volumes from authors associated with Routledge and publishers linked to the University of California Press.

Legacy and impact

Perez's work is cited in discussions of contemporary Israeli photography and urban representation alongside practitioners featured in exhibitions at the European Cultural Centre, the Asia Society, and the Smithsonian Institution. Curators and scholars reference his projects in analyses presented at conferences hosted by the Association of Art Historians, the International Association for Visual Culture, and the World Congress of Jewish Studies. His images continue to be studied in university courses at institutions such as the Tel Aviv University, the New York University and the Goldsmiths, University of London, contributing to ongoing debates about place, identity, and photographic practice.

Category:Israeli photographers Category:21st-century artists