CV
︎ Contact - Livikessel@gmail.com
Livi Kessel (b. 1982) is an Athens-based documentary filmmaker, photographer, and educator whose work moves between intimate personal storytelling and urgent social advocacy.
Kessel came up through Haifa's independent art scene, co-founding one of the city's first independent art centers in the downtown district. She holds a B.Ed.Des in photography from the Wizo Design Academy, and completed her Master's degree in 2017 in Film and Culture at the University of Haifa.
Her feature documentary debut, The Other City, followed a circle of young Haifa artists over twelve years — tracing friendship, ambition, and the harder realities of making a life in art, including struggles with mental health and addiction. Backed by the New Israel Film Fund and the Makor Film Fund, it premiered at Docaviv and screened at the Shanghai Film Festival. She went on to co-direct and shoot Nina (2024), which premiered at Slamdance Film Festival in the US.
Her most recent film, Out at Six (Israel, 2025), turns the camera on femicide — drawing on the research framework that identifies eight escalating stages leading up to a femicide, and asking what survival looks like after living through six of them. The film screened at DOK.fest München in its HerStory strand, and reflects Kessel's own experience surviving an abusive relationship. Through Out at Six, she has become a visible voice in raising awareness around gender-based violence and the patterns that precede femicide, using her filmmaking as a tool for advocacy alongside her artistic practice.
Kessel's photography has been exhibited widely, including museums and galleries in Israel and abroad, and she won the National Gallery's Modern Perspectives photography competition in 2011.
Selected Publications
http://www.wizodzn.ac.il/photography-media-and-film/acetone
http://www.hookandlinemag.com/2012/06/wing-art-in-haifa-israel.html
https://sarmadmagazine.tumblr.com/post/94352765371/livi-kessel-more-the-first-photo-series-we
https://www.carpacciomagazine.com/photography/2010/livi-kessel-contribution-to-issue-19/
http://baadgallery.org/artist/livi_kessel/?hl=en
http://fmjbotham.co.uk/volumeone
http://deviatemagazine.com/top-5-photos-week-11/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUqyDgsfofg
https://en.calameo.com/read/004640716917848115634
https://zioror.wordpress.com/tag/%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%91%D7%99-%D7%A7%D7%A1%D7%9C/
Solo exhibitions
2014 "Alley Cats” Tha gallery of Kiryat Tivon Memorial Center
2012 “51 Hanamal st.” Ramat Gan Museum of Art, Israel
2011 “History” Dbosh studio, Haifa
Selected group exhibitions
2016 “Polaris” Gate 3 gallery, Haifa
2015 “Dreje” Gate 3 gallery, Haifa
2014 “Light in the darkroom” Musrara mix festival, Jerusalem
2013 “Two years after” Ramat Gan Museum of Art, Israel
2013 “Winter Harvest” Cabri Gallery, Israel
2012 "Paris square" Haifa museum of contemporary art, Israel
2011 "photography saloon" Hangar 2, Tel Aviv, Israel
2011 "The rite of spring" RAWART gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel
2011 “Human Landscape” Zaritsky Artists House, Tel Aviv, Israel
2011 “Fresh paint” Tel Aviv, Israel
2010 Selected Graduated students, The Open Museum of photography Tel Hai
2010 “Haifa -Plovdiv, Plovdiv- Haifa” Pygmalion House-Televisia Europa, Bulgaria
2010 “Secret art 5” Mani House, Tel Aviv, Israel
2009 “A little more” PEKA Gallery, Technion, Haifa, Israel
2009 “A little” The Wing Gallery, Haifa, Israel
2009 “merged #1” old city hall, London, England
2008 “Hopes” MDSM center, Oświęcimiu, Poland
Curating Exhibitions
2016 “Polaris” Gate 3 gallery, Haifa
2015 “project wall” Rotem Amizur solo exhibition, Ha’agaf Gallery’ Haifa
2015 “five air directions” Beit Hagefen Gallery, Haifa
2013 “Flower of the pomegrant” A solo show for an Anonimus Iranian photographer
in Israel, The Wing Gallery
2011 “Apperantly” A solo show for Vadim Nemirovsky, The Wing Gallery
2009 “A little more” Peka Gallery, The architecture dept. Gallery, Technion
Scholarships and awards
2011 Winner of Modern Perspectives photography competition - National Gallery, London
2009 Peace Sullivan scholarship
2008 Rotary scholarship
2006 The Green fund scholarship
Magazines & Catalogs
2012 "Sarmad" https://sarmadmagazine.tumblr.com/
2012 “Israel to go” - lunchbox
2011 “Human landscape” Catalog
2011 The Encyclopedia of Moments - Volume One
2010 “Haifa -Plovdiv, Plovdiv- Haifa” Catalog
2010 A5 Magazine Sin issue #10
2010 “The Hill Magazine” - 3rd issue, Cambridge University
2010 CARPACCIO Magazine “The difference between what is equal” Issue #19, Spain
2008 “Hopes” MDSM center, Oświęcimiu, Poland - Catalog