Boris Carmi

Boris Carmi was a pioneer of Israeli press photography who documented the early years of the state. Born Boris Vinograd in Moscow, Carmi left Russia in 1930 and studied ethnography at the Sorbonne. There he took an interest in photography, which he pursued professionally after his arrival in Palestine in 1939. During World War II, Carmi was a photographer for the British army; later he worked for the Haganah and, after the War of Independence, for the Israel Defense Forces. Throughout his career, Carmi took photographs for Israeli newspapers and journals that captured periods of turbulence and hope, demonstrating sensitivity toward his subjects. Carmi’s images are central to the collective memory of Israel and have been featured in several exhibitions there, as well as in solo shows in Berlin and Frankfurt.