Gods and Princesses

about Dina Goldstein

Best known for series like Fallen Princesses and Gods of Suburbia, through which she critically examines the “happily ever after” motif that we are spoon fed since childhood and religious faith within the modern context of technology, science and secularism, Dina Goldstein is a photographer and Pop Surrealist with a background in editorial and documentary photography. Born in Israel, the country that inspired her to start photographing, she emigrated with her family to Vancouver, Canada, in 1976, when she was 6. Growing up, while her friends were off to summer camp, she would travel on her own to Israel to visit her family.

“Israel was always a nostalgic place for me, where biblical stories came alive, where I could lie on the beach for hours and explore my heritage while going through boxes and boxes of pictures in my grandmother’s bureau“.

Dina traveled to war torn areas like Gaza and the West Bank, where she photographed in refugee camps and in areas that were occupied by both Israelis and Arabs, but once decided that war photography was not for her, she began to photograph and study subcultures — body builders, wrestlers, gamblers, teens, farmers, etc. — and shoot for magazines and newspapers on a regular basis. In 2013 she opened up her studio on the East side of Vancouver and celebrated 20 years as a photographer through her XX retrospective.

“When I started studying photography, I was convinced that photojournalism was my direction. At that time there were no photojournalism programs in Vancouver so I decided to create my own. I would like to thank my family and friends for their support during this double decade journey“.