B.h.yael

b.h. Yael is a Toronto-based filmmaker, video and installation artist, and educator whose work has been exhibited nationally and internationally since the mid-1980s. Born in Israel and raised in Canada, Yael is known for hybrid documentary and video essay forms that weave autobiography, political analysis, and experimental narrative. Her practice addresses questions of identity, family, belonging, and geopolitical urgency—particularly the politics of Palestine and Israel, the complexities of Arab-Jewish identity, and environmental and apocalyptic themes. She is Professor of Integrated Media in the Faculty of Art at OCAD University, where she has taught since 1989.

Early life and background

Yael was born in Israel and immigrated to Canada, settling in Toronto. Her Iraqi Jewish heritage is a recurring subject in her autobiographical work, particularly in her investigation of Arab-Jewishness and its uneasy position within both Israeli and diasporic Jewish culture.

Education

Yael holds a BA in English from York University (1978) and a BEd teaching certificate from the Ontario Teacher Education College (1979). She completed her AOCA in Photo/Electric Arts and New Media at the Ontario College of Art in 1987, and later earned an MA in Curriculum and Cultural Studies from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto, in 1997.

Teaching and academic roles

Yael joined the faculty of the Ontario College of Art and Design (now OCAD University) in 1989 and has remained there throughout her career. She served as Assistant Dean in the Faculty of Art from 1997 to 1999 and later as Chair of Senate. She is Professor of Integrated Media and also teaches in the Art and Social Change minor. Since 2009 she has co-programmed Art Creates Change, an arts and media lecture series at OCAD University, which has featured guests including Rebecca Belmore, Ali Kazimi, Kent Monkman, Shelley Niro, and Joe Sacco.

Artistic practice

Yael's work occupies a hybrid space between experimental documentary, video essay, and installation. Her tapes merge first-person narration, autobiographical footage, dramatic reconstruction, archival material, and interviews to create layered, non-linear investigations of memory, identity, and politics. Her tapes have been described as "hybrids of experimental narrative and documentary elements" preoccupied with gender and sexuality, with questions of lesbian identity surfacing alongside her engagement with diasporic and geopolitical themes.

Her films and installations have been acquired by numerous university libraries and archives, including York University, University of Toronto, McGill University, Concordia University, Simon Fraser University, UBC, Oberlin College, and the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona's OVNI (Observatori de Video No Identificat) archives.

Her work is distributed by Vtape (Toronto) and is available for streaming through Cinema Politica's dedicated b.h. Yael Collection.

My Mother Is a Dangerous Woman (1987)

An early single-channel work acquired by the Canada Council Art Bank and Trinity Square Video. It was screened at the Tokyo Video Festival and the Festival International de Films et Videos de Femmes in Montreal, and broadcast on TVO.

Is Dad Dead Yet (1991)

A work noted by critics for its dark feminist humour. Described by the Toronto Star as "drop-dead funny," it screened at the Vancouver International Film Festival, the Atlantic Film Festival, and the Yorkton Short Film and Video Festival.

Fresh Blood: A Consideration of Belonging (1996)

Yael's breakthrough feature-length work. A hybrid documentary video essay structured into twelve chapters, Fresh Blood is formed around a return trip to Israel/Palestine and engages Iraqi Jewish identity, Arab-Jewish dichotomies, the politics of occupation, gender, belly-dancing, and the Holocaust. The film features interviews with scholar Ella Shohat, Israeli novelist Eli Amir, and Palestinian educator Nabila Espanioly. It received wide national and international distribution and has been acquired by dozens of university libraries across North America. Critics including Cameron Bailey (NOW Magazine) and Sandra Haar (Fuse Magazine) identified it as a significant intervention in both queer and diasporic Canadian media arts.

Palestine Trilogy (2006)

A three-part video work consisting of Deir Yassin Remembered, A Hot Sandfilled Wind, and In the Middle of the Street. Deir Yassin Remembered examines the legacy of the 1948 massacre of Palestinian villagers at Deir Yassin, which Yael situates as pivotal to Palestinian dispossession. A Hot Sandfilled Wind is a lyrical 13-minute piece based on a poem by Nadia Habib, exploring coexistence and proximity beyond the politics of occupation. The Palestine Trilogy was reviewed at its world premiere at the Royal Cinema, Toronto (January 2006) in the Globe and Mail and NOW Magazine. It has been acquired by institutions including the University of Ottawa, Brandon University, University of Alberta, Simon Fraser University, and the OVNI Archives in Barcelona.

Trading the Future (2008)

An essay film examining apocalyptic thinking and its relationship to environmental urgencies. The film had its world premiere at the Mumbai International Film Festival (2008) and its North American premiere as the Closing Night Gala of the Images Festival, Toronto (2008). It won the Audience Award at the Ecofilms festival in Rhodes, Greece (2009) and the Best Humanitarian Observation – Media Matters award at the Rivers Edge International Film Festival in Kentucky. It has been acquired by the universities of Winnipeg, McMaster, Brandon, Oberlin, York, and the University of Toronto.

Ken, Tov, Beseder (2010)

A short narrative-allegorical piece depicting a Palestinian man at work in his garden in West Jerusalem who is interrupted. It premiered at the Palestine Film Festival, Bloor Cinema, Toronto.

No Lies (2016)

A silent, one-minute short related to the Lessons for Polygamists project. It won Most Original Film by a Local Female Director at the Toronto Urban Film Festival (2016) and First Prize at the Gotta Minute Film Festival in Edmonton (2018).

Lessons for Polygamists (2017)

Employing animation and collage, this film takes place inside the diary of an adolescent girl growing up in a polygamous household. The girl addresses lessons to her father. The film premiered at the Images Festival (April 2017) and screened at the Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival in Hawick, Scotland, among other festivals.

Letter to My Tribe (2024)

A 97-minute video essay funded by the Canada Council for the Arts. The film begins from the question: Why don't more Jews and Israelis speak out about Palestine? Over many years, Yael recorded arguments with her mother—who holds a messianic perspective—and these exchanges form the film's backbone. Interwoven with them are interviews with journalists, activists, and a rabbi, alongside documentation of actions in the West Bank and personal journeys to Iraq and Poland. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto Palestine Film Festival, screening to a sold-out audience at TIFF Bell Lightbox (September 2024). It subsequently screened at ZagrebDox and other international festivals.

Installations and collaborative work

Yael has created numerous video installations alongside her single-channel works. She has engaged in long-term collaborative projects, including the Approximations series with artist Johanna Householder (presented at Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto, and at Les Rencontres in Paris and Madrid), Verbatim (with Householder), and the Spontaneous Combustion collective, which she co-founded in the late 1980s (with shows at venues including the Atlantis Gallery, London, England, and Mercer Union, Toronto).

The Hardpressed Collective's Olive Project, which Yael co-curated, was presented at the Tranz<->Tech International Video Art Biennial in Toronto (2003). Other installation projects include Hirsute Pursuit, a photographic and installation series exploring the implications of hair in relation to environmental urgency, gendered formation, and historical trauma.

Publication

Family States (2021), edited by Mike Hoolboom and published by ConverSalon, is a 140-page book about Yael's media work. The volume brings together essays, critical texts, and creative responses by fellow artists, filmmakers, writers, teachers, and activists. Contributors include Cameron Bailey, Richard Fung, John Greyson, Johanna Householder, Judy Rebick, Steve Reinke, Kerri Sakamoto, Lia Tarachansky, and Ali Kazimi, among others. The book also includes an interview with Yael conducted by Hoolboom. The launch event (2021) featured conversations with Richard Fung, Dalia Kandiyoti, and Robert Massoud, and was facilitated by Ashok Mathur, then Dean of Graduate Studies at OCAD University.

Awards and recognition (selected)

Curatorial and community work

Alongside her practice as an artist, Yael has worked extensively as a programmer and curator. She has served on arts juries for the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, and international bodies including the Kos International Health Film Festival (Greece). She was a board member of the Northern Visions Film and Video Association / Images Festival (1988–1995), the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre (1991–1992), and the advisory board of Cinema Politica (from 2014). She has been a board member of Beit Zatoun Cultural Centre (2012–2016) and Wychwood Open Door (2011–2017). She has also facilitated grant-writing workshops for the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT).

Selected critical reception

Yael's work has been reviewed and discussed in NOW Magazine, the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, Fuse Magazine, Herizons Magazine, Parachute, XTRA, [https://utppublishing.com/journal/topia Topia: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies], and Screen, among other publications. Richard Fung wrote on "Geopolitics and the Videos of b.h. Yael" in Fierce Magazine (2010). Connie Crane profiled Yael in Herizons Magazine (Fall 2011). Academic engagement includes Stephanie Springgay's article "Corporeal Pedagogy and Contemporary Video Art" in Art Education (2008).

External links

• Official website
• b.h. Yael Collection at Cinema Politica
• Vtape distribution
• OCAD University faculty profile