Yola Monakhov Stockton was born in Moscow and raised in New York City. After completing a master’s degree in Italian literature, she entered photojournalism and editorial photography, her work appearing in Harper’s, Le Monde, Marie Claire, Newsweek, The New York Times, Der Stern, and Time, on assignments around the world. Returning to Columbia University for her MFA, she also became a regular contributor to The New Yorker, and went on to teach at Columbia, International Center of Photography, LaGuardia Community College, Pace University, and as full-time faculty at Smith College. Her work is in the permanent collections of the George Eastman Museum, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Smith College Museum of Art, JP Morgan Chase, and Fidelity Investments. Her first monograph, The Nature of Imitation, came out with Schilt Publishing in 2015. Her work has been included in solo and group exhibitions at the Alice Austen House, George Eastman Museum, Light Field Festival, Sasha Wolf Gallery, and Tianshui Photography Festival, and is represented by Rick Wester Fine Art and Schilt Publishing Gallery. As of 2016, she is Assistant Professor in Photography at SUNY Buffalo State College, and lives in Buffalo with her husband and two sons.
