TEL AVIV .- Ronen Zien is the winner of the Lauren and Mitchell Presser Young Israeli Photographer Award for 2023 - an annual award of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, which includes a cash grant of $5,000 and a solo exhibition at the Museum. His exhibition will open at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in December 2024.

Ronen Zien (b. 1990 Shfar’am), is a graduate of the BFA Department of Photography, and holds a master's degree in fine art, MFA from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. He presented solo exhibitions and participated in group exhibitions in galleries throughout the country. Engaged in photography, video and installation, his artistic practice includes analog and digital photography. He challenges the medium of photography as a concept and as a technique. Questioning attitudes regarding the local landscape and Druze society are a central theme in his work. This year, over 60 applications were submitted for the Lauren and Mitchell Presser Award for a Young Israeli Photographer.

The jury included Mira Lapidot, Chief Curator, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Kamiar Meliki, Director of the Photo London Photography Fair, and Dr. Susan Bright, photography scholar and independent curator. From the jury's statement: “We were impressed by his pushing of photographic conventions, language and histories. 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 he shows considerable sophistication and intelligence for such a young artist. We hope that the award will enable him to continue working in the same vein”.

The Award for a young Israeli photographer will be awarded this year for the ninth time. Former award winners: Rami Maymon (2015), Mark Yashaev (2016), Ronit Porat (2017), Daniel Tsal (2018), Eli Singalovski (2019), Efrat Hakimi (2020), Vera Vladimirsky (2021), Netta Laufer (2022).