Instagram story viewer> @yaelweiser> Posts

Yael Weiser

@yaelweiser

5.6K

followers

2140

following

| visual storyteller |
healing from brain injury
and some other stories too

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

“After I became disabled, the right words didn’t exist. I started photography as a creative expression. It has become a way of understanding, processing and explaining my disability.” #ShotoniPhone17Pro by Yael W. @yaelweiser

Music: ’attamyces spore’ by @_and.cs

—

Alt text: Yael sits in a sunlit studio, pulling an iPhone on a dolly toward her as she films her opposite hand. Mushrooms rest on her fingertips against a blue sky backdrop. The scene shifts to a bright green forest, where she forages mushrooms and moves through the greenery with her cane. Back in the studio, she sketches, slices the mushrooms, and carefully places them on her hand. In the final shot, her hand rises against the blue sky in a surreal scene, with mushrooms seemingly growing from each finger. by @yaelweiser

17k

479

5 months ago

After 3 months I am saying goodbye to my wheelchair. It was a love and hate relationship. Some days I hated it, it constantly reminded me that I am handicapped. Suddenly not being at standing people's height, I felt so unseen. I felt transparent, and when people did notice me they moved in discomfort.
But it has its perks, suddenly kids and dogs noticing you more as you are at their height and create eye contact. And there is this little nod when you see a fellow handicapped in the streets.
When I carefully started to walk, the nearest I will get to my wheelchair the more I felt reassured. I felt that I'm getting back to safety, it was my floater in the deep sea. I would sit back on it with a sigh of relief.

So I decided to do a proper goodbye to this complex relationship. Since I got hospitalised I've been surrounded by flowers. Some days they reminded me of funerals and others of birth.
It's just a milestone in the long process of rehabilitation, but I thought it worth mentioning. #pvmondayinbloom taken in Reade : Revalidatiecentrum, Overtoom Amsterdam by @yaelweiser

2k

176

5 years ago

The Big Tiredness, a photo work by 2024 @villalenafoundation resident Yael Weiser, now in Villa Lena Foundation collection.

Edited during time at @villalena , The Big Tiredness encapsulates the overwhelming weight of mental fatigue. The massive hay bale suspended above the artist represents the burdens of the brain, while the process of creating it—using analog photography—mirrors slow and intentional approach to life.
« At Villa Lena, I learned to embrace the low energy moments and see the beauty in them. This work is part of an ongoing series exploring healing and living with brain damage. »

Yael Weiser is a visual artist living in Amsterdam. Switching between photography, graphic design, and animation, her work is characterised by a strong usage of colours while creating moving storytelling.

Yael Weiser
The Big Tiredness, 2024
Print on fine paper
100x80 cm

@yaelweiser taken in VILLA LENA Tuscany by @yaelweiser

229

11

2 years ago

Thank you @nrcnl @nrcinbeeld for interviewing me about my process and publishing it in the weekend edition 🌱 Beautifully written by Eva Klute (hopefully the translation doesn’t ruin her text!). taken in Amsterdam, Netherlands by @yaelweiser

3

31

5 months ago

/ Sensory Overload /

Since my brain injury I get easily overstimulated. The processing of light, noise, movement, information, feelings - I can manage them one by one, but when they come together it’s completely overwhelming. It’s itchy, almost annoying, impossible to focus. Like unnoticed pieces of straw accumulating and clogging my processor. Then my brain starts to glitch.

The embarrassing part is that I often don’t realise when the switch happens, I get confused, irritated and a bit of an annoying person altogether. I am struggling to stay nice to my surrounding, to keep smiling and communicating while my brain is bugging. It’s a bit a freeze, fight or flight situation - not exactly the most social version of me. Luckily my close friends already know how to recognise these moments, they know the look on my face and (thankfully) don’t take personally. Thank you friends 💛 working on it!

This work was done at Villa Lena residency
Together with two talented women:
Photography by @ewphotos1
Head piece by @thelittlebanana

@villalena @villalenafoundation by @yaelweiser

284

18

a year ago

Thank you @professionelefotografie 🙏 taken in Amsterdam, Netherlands by @yaelweiser

3

29

10 months ago

A short story about my grandma and her bestie 💕 taken in Netherlands by @yaelweiser

171

44

4 months ago

I came across this term the other day: “formative landscape.” It means a place that shapes who you are and how you see the world. For me, that’s the lake at the lake at Xenia.
I watched it change through the seasons, gently holding all these reflections. Tiny moments that passed over it, lit it for a while, then became part of the lake. Even now, when I need a bit of calm, I find myself drifting back to it. I just sat there doing nothing, reflecting. And somehow, that felt enough. #pvmondayreflection @photovogue @xeniacreativeretreat by @yaelweiser

168

11

a year ago

Oma celebrating a small victory, 2024

Over the past few years, I’ve been keeping a list of things I’ve (re)learned since I had my stroke, with the goal of reaching 100 on the list.
Number 1 was learning how to swallow food, number 9 was phrasing a full sentence, 15 was learning to walk, 34 was tying my own hair, and 65 was successfully going to the supermarket.
For number 89 on my list, I wanted to be able to drive a long distance by myself. So I decided to visit my grandma who lives three hours away. It ended up taking me six hours because I got so tired from staying focused while driving and needed many stops. But I made it!

So here you can see my grandma and my dog, Soda, celebrating a small success with me by eating ice cream in the cold. #shotonfilm #portra400 taken in Oostburg by @yaelweiser

3

29

2 years ago

Balancing, what a bummer.
In the past 2 years, since I had my stroke, being in balance is my daily challenge.
One of the side effects of having brain damage is that I have very little energy, my brain is still fragile and I easily collapse.

So I’ve learned that I have to manage and evaluate my energy a few times a day. I still haven’t find the joy in that practice - I find it boring and a total party pooper.

It feels like I constantly have to give up on something. If I cook myself dinner, I won’t have enough energy to wash my hair. If I spend too much energy hanging with friends, I won’t be able to walk back home (luckily I have my walking stick!).

But when I manage to keep the balance, suddenly, out of the blue I notice growth. It surprises me every time, like the first leaves appearing on a tree after a long winter. Magic.

———-
I made this work during my residency at the beloved @xeniacreativeretreat taken in Hampshire by @yaelweiser

3

43

4 years ago

On Friday, it was the last day of the ‘On Tenderness and Time’ exposition at @danielkatzgallery in London. It took me some time (and tenderness) to find the words to describe this experience.

It was the first time sharing my personal healing story with a wide audience. In recent years, I’ve created art mostly as a healing tool for myself. But it turns out that hanging it in a gallery, sharing it, and seeing people’s response to it is a whole healing chapter of its own.

Coping with disability introduced me to a new sensation - feeling unseen. So when I stood with @jenncellis in the gallery, hanging the large print of my wheelchair photograph, I was deeply moved. By (quite literally) putting a spotlight on a wheelchair, I felt it brought visibility to disabled people, if only for a brief moment - and that made me feel so much. Grateful to everyone who came to experience all these emotions with me ❤️.

Thank you to @biancaroden for making all this possible; I am forever grateful for the opportunity. Thank you to @jenncellis for curating with sensitivity and intelligence; you solved this puzzle in such an amazing way. Thanks to the @apsara.studio team for bringing this expo to life. And a huge thank you to my family and friends for always accompanying me ❤️. Book design by @peterrodendesign, photography by Jon Baker taken in Mayfair, London by @yaelweiser

3

40

2 years ago

hand picking wild flowers
with @modest.flowers #pvmondayinbloom taken in Hampshire, England by @yaelweiser

3

4

3 years ago