Supporting this project are a group of leading British and Israeli artists who came together to judge the competition and support gender rights. They include Ivri Lider, David Adika, Ibtisam Mara’ana, Nadav Kander, Ambassador David Quarrey, Juno Calypso, Maya Anner and Eyal Landesman.
Ambassador Quarrey joined the FCO in 1994 and was most recently Director for the Near East and North Africa.
He has previously worked as a Private Secretary to Prime Minister Blair and as Director for Foreign Policy in the National Security Secretariat.
He has served overseas at the UK Mission to the United Nations in New York, and in New Delhi and Harare.
David Adika was born in Jerusalem in 1970. He holds a BFA and MFA from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem, where he currently lectures. David also lectures at the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, Ramat Gan and is Head of the Visual Arts programme at the Elementary School for the Arts in Tel-Aviv.
David’s photographs are a by-product of his life, dealing with his personal biography, the collective memory of the society in which he lives, and tying political reality to social reality. In his photographic work, David strives to show the presence of beauty belonging to the specific moment, using strategies of 'seduction' and 'capture'. His photographs convey a sort of incidental, every day beauty - the outcome of a one-time encounter between the photographer, the object, and light.
Adika’s work has been featured in many solo and group exhibitions as well as various written publications, throughout Israel and abroad. Previous awards include The Jack Naylor Award for Cinematography in a feature film, Haifa Film Festival 2011, The Israeli Ministry of Culture Award for Fine-Art Artist 2011 and the Sharet Scholarship, America-Israel Cultural Foundation 2004-2005.
Eyal Landesman is an artist, founder and director of the Israeli International Photography Festival.
His works have been published in many magazines and have been exhibited around the world. His works include motion art 'Her Morning Elegance' which was nominated for the 2010 Grammy award, in the video clip category. It was screened at Cannes Lion Festival, L.A. Film Festival, contemporary film festival at the Centre Pompidou and SXSW.
In 2006 Harvard University purchased the archive of his works. In 2009 he founded The Israeli International Photography Festival, a 14 day’s unique and independent international festival, which exhibits contemporary photography and deals with social issues using the language of photography. He has been its artistic director ever since.
In 2015 Landesman became a mentor at TecnoArt – Startup incubator for arts, culture and media technologies. In 2016 he became nominator for the international Prix Pictet.
Ibtisam Mara'ana-Menuhin is a film director and producer, owner of the production company Ibtisam Films. Her work explores gender, class, racism, and collective and individual identity.
Ibtisam is a Member of the Council for Arts & Culture, Israeli National Lottery Fund; a mentor at the Women’s Project of the New Israeli Cinema Fund and a Professor of Film Arts at the Bezalel Art and Design Academy, Jerusalem. Ibtisam has been awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the Open University of Israel and has won numerous awards for her achievements in film, such as the Jerusalem Film Festival – Van Leer Award for Best Director 2017 and the DocAviv Festival Audience Award 2014.
Ibtisam has scripted and directed many films, for which she has been awarded the Special Jury Award Silver Wolf Competition, IDFA 2008; First Prize – DocAviv International Documentary Film Festival 2007, Fippa – Biarritz International Film Festival Silver Award 2007; Best Mid-Length Documentary, HotDocs Toronto 2005 and the Best Debut Documentary and Best Cinematography, DocAviv International Documentary Film Festival 2003.
Ivri Lider is a celebrated Israeli singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. Over the last 20 years, Ivri has released seven studio albums and three live albums and has been involved in numerous collaborations, both on and off the stage.
He is the driving force behind the panel of judges on X Factor Israel and founder of the internationally renowned group TYP. Ivri has had a book of his songs published; and has written music for films, the ballet and for the theatre.
His critically acclaimed work has won him many prestigious awards, Including the Israeli Music Industry Performer of the Year award 2000, AMI Performer of the Year award 2005, ACUM’s Lyricist of the Year award 2002 and the Ophir Award for Best Original Score 2004.
Juno Calypso was born in East London in 1989. She completed her BA degree in photography at London College of Communication in 2012, where she began a series of self-portraits disguised as a fictional character named Joyce.
Since graduating, Juno has won several awards, including the 2013 Catlin Art Prize, the British Journal of Photography 2016 International Award, and the 2016 Foam Talent Award.
Alongside international exhibitions, Juno’s video work has been screened at Somerset House, Tate Modern, Saatchi Gallery, and Musée de l’Elysée.
Maya Anner is the Arts Manager at the British Council in Israel. She is an independent curator, specializing in contemporary photography.
She previously worked as the Chief Curator and Art Director at ArtLink Inc, served as an artistic advisor to the International Photography Festival in Tel-Aviv and worked at the Photography department at the MoMA and at the Tel-Aviv Museum of Art.
Maya holds an MA in Art History and a Diploma in Curatorial and Museum Studies from the Tel-Aviv University.
Nadav Kander grew up in South Africa. He began photographing at an early age and moved to London in 1982. His work, always about Human Condition, spans the genres of the man altered Landscape and Portraits.
Nadav's work is housed in several public collections including National Portrait Gallery (London), Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago), The Frank-Suss Collection of Société Générale, (France) and Statoil Collection (Norway). He has exhibited at venues including Weserburg Museum, National Media Museum, Musee de L’Elysee, Lausanne, Kennedy’s Museum, The Photographers’ Gallery, Somerset House, Palais de Tokyo, and Herzilya Museum of Contemporary Art.
Nadav’s work has garnered many awards over the years, including the Prix Pictet prize and the Lucie Awards International Photographer of the Year 2009, an honorary fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society in 2015 and the Terence Donovan Medal