She has benefited from local and international support, including the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, NY Foundation for the Arts, Edith Russ Site for Media Art in Germany, Santa Fe Art Institute, and Cite Internationale Universitaire de Paris. Her work was shown at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in NY; the International Video Festival in Casablanca; Feature, Inc., White Columns, Invisible-Exports, and Gorney, Bravin, Lee galleries in NY; FA Projects in London; Edith Russ Site for Media Arts in Germany; Art and Process in Paris; Torch Gallery in Amsterdam; Camera Works in San Francisco; BY Art Projects in Tel Aviv, Guild Hall in East Hampton, among others. Ms Ben-Shahar began her art career as a painter. Her first exhibition featured large scale oil paintings of draped fabrics illuminated by high contrast light and shadows, which anticipated her long interest in
light and textile. During her MFA studies in NY, Ms Ben-Shahar shifted the focus of her work to photography and video. For three decades, alongside her own art practice, she made a living as a photo researcher/editor. Her intention from the start was to explore the photo field deeply, from as
many perspectives as possible. One of her first research projects was photo researching the books “History of Women Photographers” and “A World History of Photography,” both by Naomi Rosenblum. She was then an image editor of Cabinet magazine, and the New Yorker and curated exhibitions for the New York City Opera at Lincoln Center.