Ronen Zien wins Young Israeli Photographer 2023 award

Ronen Zien has won the Lauren and Mitchell Presser Young Israeli Photographer Award for 2023, an annual award from the Tel Aviv Museum of Art that includes a cash grant of $5,000 and a solo exhibition at the museum. His exhibition will open at the museum next year.

Zien, 33, holds a BFA and MFA from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design’s photography department. The Shfaram native has presented solo exhibitions and participated in group exhibitions in galleries throughout the country. 

His works, centered on photography, video, and installation, include analog and digital photography. He challenges the medium of photography as a concept and as a technique. Central themes in his works are the questioning of attitudes regarding the local landscape and Druze society.

Who else applied for the young Israeli photographer award?

This year, more than 60 applications were submitted for the Lauren and Mitchell Presser Award for a Young Israeli Photographer. 

“We were impressed by his pushing of photographic conventions, language, and histories,” the jury stated. “This showed a real understanding of the limitations and possibilities of the medium. His engagement with the medium showed great originality and boldness. 

“Photography’s materiality is often at the forefront of his work and through this, he is able to think about the ideologies of documentary with his treatment of both the family archive and landscape. 

“Although dealing with serious and complex issues of the region, there is nothing heavy-handed or didactic in the way these are explored, and [Zien] shows considerable sophistication and intelligence for such a young artist. We hope the award will enable him to continue working in the same vein.”