Beyond the Passport: Ten Ukraine-Born Women Artists Reclaim Their Images at PHOTO IS:RAEL
A passport photograph can establish who you are in the eyes of the state. But can it tell where you belong?
This question lies at the heart of Bodies at the Edge: Mapping Ukrainian Gender Migration in Israel, an exhibition bringing together ten women artists born in Ukraine who arrived in Israel at different moments and under different circumstances.
Presented from November 11 to 21, 2026, at the 13th International Photography Festival, PHOTO IS:RAEL, the exhibition explores how photography can challenge official classifications of identity while giving visual form to experiences of migration, war, gender-based violence, and displacement.
Curated by Yael Asayag and Vera Gailis, the project brings together artists who migrated long before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and others whose lives were disrupted by the war. Their experiences unfold between Ukraine and Israel, two countries marked by war, but also across different generations, citizenship statuses, and artistic practices.
When Photography Challenges Identity
The exhibition moves beyond conventional documentary representations of migration, bringing together photographic performance, constructed imagery, collage, and the transformation of personal archives.
In Ukrainian Ornament (2026), Vera Gailis uses identification photographs of fellow participants taken from Ukrainian and Israeli passports and other official documents. Arranged into a pattern recalling traditional Ukrainian ornamentation, images originally intended for bureaucratic identification become a collective portrait of women whose legal statuses differ but whose cultural histories intersect.
For Saint.ioan (Yana Volkova), a multidisciplinary artist whose practice addresses the trauma of sexual violence experienced after migrating to Israel, the body becomes both a site of memory and a medium of expression. In Body Remembers (2024) and You Forgot Me in the Freezer but I’m Still Beautiful (2026), bodily performance and constructed photographic environments explore vulnerability, exposure, and the struggle to reclaim one’s image.
Yael Asayag’s Reach the Sky of Borodyanka (2022) brings images of war-damaged architecture into dialogue with the human body. In Nof Yam (2024), Olha Panchenko depicts a figure curled into a protective position in shallow coastal water, where vulnerability is communicated through gesture and landscape rather than direct documentary testimony.
Polina Veller’s HOPE (2022) incorporates an elaborate sculptural object into a staged photographic portrait, expanding the relationship between body, material, and image.
Together, these works refuse a single visual narrative of Ukrainian migration. Instead of depicting women solely as victims or witnesses, they present distinct artistic positions that question how personal experience becomes visible and who controls its representation.
Beyond Borders, Beyond National Art Histories
The exhibition is part of the work of Platform 202, an independent initiative founded in 2026 by Vera Gailis and Yael Asayag.
Combining artistic research, curatorial practice, and cultural diplomacy, the platform supports artists born in Ukraine who live and work in Israel. It also addresses a broader question: What happens to an artist’s place in national art history after migration?
Platform 202 seeks to document artistic practices shaped by displacement, promote their institutional recognition, and ensure that artists working beyond Ukraine’s borders remain visible within Ukrainian art history.
Supported by Israeli Friends of Ukraine, the exhibition brings these questions into an international cultural setting, connecting Ukrainian artistic perspectives with Israeli and global audiences.
Photography, Citizenship, and Public Visibility
Bodies at the Edge is one of approximately 50 exhibitions presented at PHOTO IS 2026, featuring works by more than 200 photographers from Israel and around the world. The festival attracts tens of thousands of visitors annually.
This year’s theme, Citizens, examines citizenship, visibility, participation, and the right to be heard.
For women whose lives cross national borders and legal categories, these questions are not abstract. Through contemporary photographic practices, Bodies at the Edge asks how art can make visible forms of identity and belonging that official documents cannot fully represent.
Exhibition Information
Bodies at the Edge: Mapping Ukrainian Gender Migration in Israel
Curators: Yael Asayag and Vera Gailis
Participating artists: Yael Asayag, Sasha Vares, Vera Gailis, Rita Gertsman, Ira Kremer, Mariia Likhtman, Marianna Nazaruk, Olha Panchenko, Polina Veller, and Saint.ioan (Yana Volkova).
Venue: Tel Aviv Cinematheque, Israel
Opening: November 11, 2026, 8:00 PM
Exhibition: November 11–21, 2026
Gallery Talk: November 17, 6:00 PM
Admission: Free
Supported by Israeli Friends of Ukraine.
PHOTO PREVIEW
Press inquiries, high-resolution images, and interviews:
Vera Gailis
Curator and co-founder, Platform 202
Phone / WhatsApp: +972 54-319-4323
Exhibition:
https://photoisrael.org/en/
Platform 202:
https://www.instagram.com/202_
Israeli Friends of Ukraine:
https://www.israfriends.org/
Platform 202
Research and visibility platform for Ukrainian artists in Israel and worldwide
Founded by Vera Gailis & Sveta Matvieienko (Yael Asayag)
Instagram: @202_platform
