About

Gillian Laub (b.1975, raised in Chappaqua, New York) is a photographer and filmmaker based in 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, where her love of visual storytelling and family narratives began.

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About

Laub’s first monograph, Testimony (Aperture 2007), began as a response to the media coverage during the second intifada in the Middle East. This work is comprised of portraits and testimonies from Israeli Jews, Israeli Arabs, Lebanese, and Palestinians all directly and indirectly affected by the conflict.

Laub spent over a decade working in Georgia exploring issues of lingering racism in the American South. This work became Laub’s first feature length, directed and produced, documentary film, Southern Rites that premiered on HBO. Her monograph, Southern Rites (Damiani, 2015) and travelling exhibition by the same title came out in conjunction with the film and are being used for an educational outreach campaign, in schools and institutions across the country. Southern Rites was named one of the best photo books by TIME, Smithsonian, Vogue, LensCulture, and American Photo. It was also nominated for a Lucie award and Humanitas award.

"Riveting...In a calm, understated tone, Southern Rites digs deep to expose the roots that have made segregated proms and other affronts possible. Southern Rites is a portrait of the inequities that lead to disaster on the streets of cities like Baltimore and Ferguson, Mo.” - The New York Times

Gillian’s most recent monograph Family Matters (Aperture), spanning over twenty years of photographs, explores how society’s biggest questions are revealed in our most intimate relationships; zeroing in on the artist family as an example of the way Donald Trump’s knack for sowing discord and division had impacted communities, individuals, and households across the country. An exhibition of Family Matters opened at the International Center of Photography in conjunction with the publication.

Laub recently recieved the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was honored as a NYSCA/NYFA Photography Fellow in 2019.

Laub has been interviewed on The View, NPR, CNN, MSNBC, Good Morning America, Times Talks and numerous others. Laub contributes to many publications including TIME , The New York Times Magazine and Vanity Fair. Laub’s work has been widely collected and exhibited, and is included in the collects of the Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge MA; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Terrana Collection, Boston; Jewish Museum. New York; Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University; Brooklyn Museum, New York; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC (now American University Museum Collection in Washington, DC), and a wide range of corporate and private collections.

At six years old I was gifted a Polaroid camera and I immediately began taking photos of my friends and family. I am holding my first Polaroid photos next to my friend, Pascale.

I posed Pascale in my childhood bedroom.

My family was and continues to be my favorite subject. I took this Polaroid of my parents when I was seven years old.

My grandparents were my first photographic muses.

My project, Testimony, is comprised of portraits and handwritten testimonies from Israeli Jews, Israeli Arabs, Lebanese, and Palestinians, all directly and indirectly affected by the Second Intifada. I am here with Nora at her home in Tel Aviv, as she writes in the journal under her portrait.

With my idol, Dolly Parton, where we showed up to the shoot color coordinated.

I am way more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it! While I sat awkwardly on a loveseat before my wedding, everyone stood around. I reflexively reached out and grabbed a camera from my friend’s hand and started photographing.

On location in Georgia while filming and photographing Southern Rites.

People tend to make fun of my footwear on shoots, but they are usually not 5’2 and don’t understand the necessity!

Good Morning America talking about Southern Rites with John Legend.

Showing Mary J. Blige the photographs from our shoot.

Talking to Drew Barrymore about Family Matters.

A recent photo shoot with Annie Leibowitz at her home in upstate New York.

At six years old I was gifted a Polaroid camera and I immediately began taking photos of my friends and family. I am holding my first Polaroid photos next to my friend, Pascale.

I posed Pascale in my childhood bedroom.

My family was and continues to be my favorite subject.

I took this Polaroid of my parents when I was seven years old.

Self-portrait at nine years old.

Obligatory art school self-portrait.

My grandparents were my first photographic muses.

My project, Testimony, is comprised of portraits and handwritten testimonies from Israeli Jews, Israeli Arabs, Lebanese, and Palestinians, all directly and indirectly affected by the Second Intifada. I am here with Nora at her home in Tel Aviv, as she writes in the journal under her portrait.

On location in Montana.

On location in Madrid.

With my idol, Dolly Parton, where we showed up to the shoot color coordinated.

I am way more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it! While I sat awkwardly on a loveseat before my wedding, everyone stood around. I reflexively reached out and grabbed a camera from my friend’s hand and started photographing.

On location in Georgia while filming and photographing Southern Rites.

People tend to make fun of my footwear on shoots,

but they are usually not 5’2 and don’t understand the necessity!

Good Morning America talking about Southern Rites with John Legend.

Showing Mary J. Blige the photographs from our shoot.

Talking to Drew Barrymore about Family Matters.

A recent photo shoot with Annie Leibowitz at her home in upstate New York.

Select Press

CBS Sunday Morning: Holocaust Survivors on Bearing Witness

New York Times: Photographing the Last of the Holocaust Survivors

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Review - ‘Southern Rites’ delivers powerful story of Black and white proms

Jun 05, 2025 Jan 01, 2027

20&20 A Lens of Her Own: 20 Distinguished Pioneering Women Photographers and 20 Contemporary Distinguished Women Photographers

Museum of The Jewish People

15 Klausner Street

Tel Aviv-Yafo, Tel Aviv District, 6139202

Israel

In photography's formative years, women who had been sidelined from other established art forms emerged as trailblazers in the field. They made a living through photography, traveled the globe with their cameras, presented their work in international exhibitions, and essentially represented an early version of "the new woman." During this turbulent period, marked by political, social, and technological upheavals, talented women photographers documented both the awe-inspiring and the terrifying events of their era.
Yet, the golden age of women in photography was short-lived. Following World War II, this field, too, became male-dominated, leading to the obscurity of many pioneering women's names. 20&20 – A Lens of Her Own revisits that era and those women to rectify a historical injustice, finally acknowledging their significant contributions and celebrating a vital yet underappreciated moment in the history of photography.

In addition to experiencing remarkable artworks, the exhibition allows visitors to connect with the creators: women whose lives were disrupted by a global upheaval, leaving behind everything familiar. Many actively participated in the fight. For instance, during World War II, Julia Pirotte combined her camera work with armed resistance; Maria Austria utilized her skills to create forged documents for partisans; and Claude Cahun, along with her partner, circulated sharp-witted anti-Nazi propaganda.
Their challenges persisted even after the war ended. For example, Edith Tudor-Hart established a Soviet espionage network and advocated for workers in Britain; Lou Landauer relocated to Israel and campaigned for the establishment of a photography department at the new Bezalel; and Eva Besnyö utilized her skills to support the feminist movement.
To provide a contemporary perspective on the narrative of photography's pioneers, the curators chose to create a dialogue between twenty groundbreaking Jewish women photographers from the interwar period and twenty contemporary Jewish women photographers, including Israelis, who are currently active worldwide. This artistic discourse deepens our understanding of both contemporary work and its roots in the past century. It revitalizes black-and-white photographs and directs our attention to the connections and contexts that span the Leica era to the "Like" era.
Visitors to the exhibition can anticipate an emotional experience with exceptional works by forty women photographers whose artistic collaboration has persisted for over a hundred years.
The pioneering photographers whose works feature in the exhibition are Maria Austria, Aenne Biermann, Dorothy Bohm, Éva Besnyö, Claude Cahun, Gerti Deutsch, Trude Fleischmann, Gisèle Freund, Laelia Goehr, Liselotte Grschebina, Lotte Jacobi, Lore Krüger, Lou Landauer, Lisette Model, Lucia Moholy, Yva (Elsa Ernestine Neuländer-Simon), Madame d'Ora, Julia Pirotte, Grete Stern, Ellen Auerbach and Grete Stern (Ringel + Pit), and Edith Tudor-Hart.
The contemporary photographers are Hannah Altman, Elinor Carucci, Michal Chelbin, Eileen Cowin, Deborah Feingold, Jill Greenberg, Gail Albert Halaban, Naomi Harris, Vardi Kahana, Loli Kantor, Gillian Laub, Stacy Arezou Mehrfar, Meryl Meisler, Hally Pancer, Rachel Papo, Noa Sadka, Avishag Shaar-Yashuv, Amy Touchette, Catrine Val, and Rona Yefman.
Apr 28 2026 2:30 PM

Live2Tell with Gillian Laub

David Posnak JCC

5850 South Pine Island Road

Davie, FL, 33328

United States

Award-winning photographer and filmmaker, Gillian Laub, will lead two meaningful programs during her visit. First, she will engage high school students in a dynamic session exploring memory, identity and the power of visual storytelling, encouraging them to think critically about how images shape personal and collective narratives. She will also lead a special LIVE2TELL photoshoot, working with local Holocaust survivors to capture formal portraits and record personal stories.