Maya Hed

Maya Hed is an award-winning photographer and documentary storyteller based in Tel Aviv. Her work moves between long-term portraiture, political documentary, and abstract photography, exploring civic resistance, human presence, and the quiet emotional weight of living through conflict.
Over the past several years, she has documented protest movements across Israel, focusing on individuals who continue to show up, demanding accountability, calling for peace, and refusing indifference. Rather than spectacle, her images center on the human face of dissent and the psychological cost of prolonged instability. She has also photographed extensively in the West Bank, observing daily life shaped by tension, fragility, and endurance.
Hed works through sustained engagement, often returning to the same people and locations over time. This long-term approach allows her images to unfold with intimacy and trust. Alongside her documentary practice, she creates abstract photographs that explore light, rupture, and spatial tension — visual meditations that echo the emotional terrain of her political work.
Maya has presented three solo exhibitions at prestigious venues including the Israeli Opera, Hava Rosenberg Gallery, and The Scots Hotel, and her work has been featured in numerous other exhibitions internationally. Her photographs have received international recognition, including awards from the International Photography Awards, PX3 — Prix de la Photographie Paris, Budapest International Foto Awards, Tokyo International Foto Awards, and the London International Creative Competition. Her work is held in private and institutional collections in the United States and internationally