Martin Barzilai was born in Montevideo (Uruguay). In 1994 he obtained a photography degree from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure Louis Lumière in Paris. He is particularly interested in political, social and environmental issues in his native continent, but he also worked on these themes in France, in Palestine-Israël, in Greece and in Tunisia. He regularly collaborates with the press and different magazines. Martin Barzilai answers requests from the press, but also suggests personal topics which seek to question without being spectacular.

In 2014 and 2015 Martin was selected for the National Visual Arts Fair of Argentina, in Buenos Aires. In 2017, he published the book Refuzniks, dire non à l'armée en Israël (Libertalia) with the support of Amnesty International France. In 2018, he received the first prize for the photo book competition at the festival Rendez-Vous Image (Strasbourg, France) where the art director was the photographer Paolo Woods. In 2023, his book Cimetière fantôme - Thessalonique (Ghost Cemetery - Thessaloniki) was published by Créaphis, supported by the Fondation pour la mémoire de la Shoah (France). Since 2022, he has been collaborating with the CNRS within the CHOICE research group. In 2025, Nous refusons (We Refuse) was released by Libertalia and translated to english by Merlin Press. After teaching photography in Barcelona and Buenos Aires, he is now based in Paris.

Main solo exhibitions : 
« Israel / Palestine : resistance fragments » (2026) University library - Nantes
« We refuse » (2025) Housmans Bookshop - London
« Ghost Cemetery » (2023) Jewish Museum - Thessaloniki
« Refuzniks, saying no to the army in Israel » (2017 - 2019) - Sète, Brest, Montpellier
« Territorio crudo » (2015) La Tribu - Buenos Aires
« Nights in Barcelona » (2007) Ultramarino - Barcelone
« Communities at the heart of War » (2004) La Passerelle - Paris

Main collective exhibitions :
« Erasure, in the shadow of memory » (2023) Le Capitole - Blois
« Le bal masqué solidaire » (2021) La Flèche d’Or - Paris
« Paris de la peine » (2020) Maison du Japon - Paris
« Adolescence » (2018) Festival du regard - Paris
« Photography in Argentina » (2017) Getty Center - Los Angeles
« La maison et le monde » (2016) galerie gare de Marlon - Paris
« Behind closed gates » (2015) Photoquai - Paris
« Puerto Quilombo » (2014) Centro Cultural Recoleta - Buenos Aires
« Behind closed gates » (2013) Latin-american Forum of photography - Sao Paulo
« Puerto Quilombo » (2012) CdF - Montevideo
« E.CO » (2010) Antigua fabrica de Tabacos - Madrid
« Buenos Aires » (2008) Carré d’Art - Rennes