Gillian Laub (b. 1975) is a photographer born in Chappaqua New York. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in comparative literature before studying photography at the International Center of Photography, New York where her love of storytelling and family narratives began. She was selected for the World Press Photo’s Joop Swart Masterclass in 2003 and as the winner of Nikon’s Storyteller Award for her work in the Middle East. With the support of the Jerome Foundation, Laub’s first monograph Testimony was published by Aperture in 2007 to critical acclaim. This body of work is comprised of portraits and testimonies from Israeli Jews, Israeli Arabs and Palestinians all directly and indirectly affected by the complicated geopolitical context in which they live.
In 2007, Laub was awarded Aperture’s Emerging Artist Award. Gillian Laub has received recognition for her multimedia work. “Take Care”, won first place in FotoWeekDC 2011, was a Webby honoree, and named TIME Magazine’s Top Ten Web Videos of 2010. She was recently a finalist for The Arnold Newman Prize for her multimedia piece “Becoming Nikki” – a project about a transgender youth, who transitioned from male to female at the age of 10 with the support of her family. Laub was recently awarded the Aaron Siskind Individual Photographer’s Fellowship. She contributes regularly to The New York Times Magazine, TIME Magazine, among many other publications and commissions. Her work is widely exhibited and collected. She currently lives in New York and is represented by Bonni Benrubi Gallery.
Gillian Laub’s directorial debut Southern Rites will be premiering on HBO in May 2015. This documentary feature film explores race in the American South.