Biography  

Rafael Goldchain (born 1953 Santiago, Chile) 

Rafael Goldchain is a Chilean Jewish-Polish visual artist based in Toronto. Rafael obtained his bachelor’s degree in applied arts in photography from Toronto Metropolitan University in Toronto (1980), a master’s degree in fine arts from York University (2000), and a master’s degree in art history from the University of Toronto (2017). He was the recipient of the Duke and Duchess of York Prize in Photography from the Canada Council in 1989. In 1994 he began his teaching career at Humber College and in the Faculty of Animation Arts and Design at Sheridan College, both in Toronto. His work is in major collections, including the Bibliothèque Nationale, France; the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa; the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. 

Rafael Goldchain’s studio work is with photography. He has created a body of work through autobiographical series and social commentary of the life led by the people in Central America, predominantly in Mexico and Guatemala. Rafael has showcased in several solo exhibitions including I Am My Family at the Center for Fine Art Photography, Colorado (2015), the Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival (2009), curated by P. Elaine Sharpe, and at O’Born Contemporary, Toronto. His work has been part of collective exhibitions at the Koffler Centre of the Arts in Toronto, curated by Matthew Brower and Mona Filip (2016), and Trading Places (2005) at Le mois de la photo à Montréal.