About Maya Barkai

Born in Jerusalem, Israel, Barkai is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts’ Photography Department, and lives and works in New York City. Barkai was a military photographer working for the Israeli Defense Forces Official Magazine (2000-2001), as she is the recipient of the National Press Photographers Foundation Grant. Her work was included in the Sony World Photography Awards, Quest and W Magazines, the Dancing Bear Collection, the George Eastman House Photography Museum, and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.

Barkai is the creator of Walking Men Worldwide™ , a series of Public Art installations that originated with Walking Men 99™ in Downtown Manhattan in 2010, and over the next decade was followed by a series of projects in collaboration with the PERMM Museum of Contemporary Art in Russia, the City of Sydney, Australia, the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the Fubon Art Foundation in Taipei. Additional works include Men At Work, at the Bat-Yam International Biennial in Israel, and Men At Work NYC, which wrapped around the construction of 4 World Trade Center and was selected for the Americans for the Arts Public Art Network 2013 Year in Review.

Barkai’s work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NY Daily News, and The Telegraph, among others. She has been invited to speak on panels and artist talks locally and internationally, among which at the AIA Center for Architecture, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the PERMM Museum of Contemporary Art, and the University of Buenos Aires.

Visit Maya’s personal website www.mayabarkai.com