Biography

Yael Bartana (Hebrew: יעל ברתנא; born 1970) is an Israeli artist, filmmaker and photographer, whose past works have encompassed multiple mediums, including photography, film, video, sound, and installation. Many of her pieces feature political or feminist themes.

Bartana's works have been exhibited around the world and been part of collections at museums such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Tate Modern in London, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Her film trilogy And Europe Will Be Stunned, which discusses the relationship between Judaism and Polish identity, was shown at the Polish pavilion of the 2011 Venice Biennale. She is based in Amsterdam, Berlin, and Tel Aviv.

Bartana's video art has been characterized as "challenging customary categorisations that either pin artists to their country of origin, or see them as participating in an international, increasingly globalised art scene". Her practice has also been described as engrained in the cultural landscape of Israel. "Thus, even though strongly resonating contemporary mobility, Bartana’s oeuvre, like that of many of her peers, is more migratory than global", showing that her work is representative of "difference in transition rather than universal sameness".