Dganit Berest

Dganit Berest was born in 1949 in Petah Tikva

Berest was born in Petah Tikva in 1949. Her father, Zvi Berest, was born in the Russian Empire and served as a lands officer in the Engineering Corps. Her mother, Fanny, sang in the choirs of the Israeli Opera and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

As a girl she studied violin and was active in the HaNoar HaOved youth movement. Her family moved to Ramat HaSharon, where she studied art in high school with Raffi Lavie as her teacher. She has said he influenced her choice to study art instead of science.

She served in the IDF in the Nahal, where she met Zeev Barkai, to whom she was married for 9 years. From 1969 to 1973 she studied art at Bezalel. Her work then drew on American pop art and used screen printing.

In 1973 she began showing at the Julie M. Gallery in Tel Aviv. The Israel Museum acquired her work Tiger, and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art acquired Photogenic Ruthie. From the mid 1970s she worked in post-conceptual art, mainly through photography, examining the link between text and image.

Her honors include the Sandberg Prize, the Dizengoff Prize, the Mendel and Eva Pundik Foundation Prize and the Rappaport Prize.