About
Sofia is a researcher and photojournalist, working between Palestine and New York City. Trained in architecture at The Cooper Union Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture, her research focuses on national identity and spatial injustice.
Sofia is a co-founder of Caravan Collective, leading the spatial research department. She is the recipient of numerous research awards, including the Benjamin Menschel Fellowship, which supported her research Tracing a Dispersed Homeland: Ukrainian Hassidism, Palestinian Judaism, Brazilian Zionism. In Tracing a Dispersed Homeland, Sofia worked on the ground in Ukraine and Brazil, questioning the validity of the nation-state as an imagined political form.
They have recently begun working as Exhibition Designer at The Ukrainian Museum of New York, reconstructing alongside the curatorial team and directors a reimagination of Ukrainian art and culture. Sofia held the position of Junior Researcher at The Logische Phantasie Lab, where she spearheaded their innovative Decentralized Water Rights research in the West Bank, conducting The Azolla Biofiltration Initiative: Decentralized Solutions for Water Scarcity, working alongside community members and global initiatives.
Sofia works as a freelance photojournalist between New York and Palestine, recently joining the Overseas Press Club of America. You can find her work in +972 Magazine, The Guardian, The New Arab, Truthout, Taiso International, Perspectif, Yesh Din, Palestine Chronicle, B'tselem, and more.
CV
EDUCATION
2022 - Present The Cooper Union for The Advancement of Science and Art - The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture, New York.
WORK EXPERIENCE
Upcoming Research Placement, Forensic Architecture, Goldsmiths, University of London, England.
2026 - Present Exhibition Designer, The Ukrainian Museum, New York.
2025 - Present Co-Founder & Head of Research, Caravan Collective, Palestine.
2025 - Present Journalist, Overseas Press Club of America, New York.
2024 - Present The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture Archives, Student Staff, The Cooper Union, New York.
2025 - Present Senior Editor, The Cooper Union Pioneer, The Cooper Union, New York.
2025 - 2026 The Benjamin Menschel Fellowship Program to Support Creative Inquiry, The Horace W Goldsmith Foundation, The Cooper Union, New York.
2026 Fellowship Show, "and tracks, and traces, and changes", The Benjamin Menschel Fellowship Program to Support Creative Inquiry, The Cooper Union, New York.
2025-2026 Project Manager, "The Occupation of the Sun", Caravan Collective, West Bank, Palestine.
2023 - 2025 Junior Researcher, The Logische Phantasie Lab.
2025 Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Architecture and History, Professor Ninad Pandit, The Cooper Union - The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture, New York.
2024 Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Architecture and History, Professor Zulaikha Ayub, The Cooper Union - The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture, New York.
2024 - 2025 Staff Writer, The Cooper Union Pioneer, The Cooper Union, New York.
2024 Group Show, 2x2x2, December 3rd - 9th, The Cooper Union, New York.
2023 - 2024 Columbia GSAPP Affirmations Cohort of Respondents, Columbia GSAPP, New York.
2023 Guest Editor, The Cooper Union Pioneer, November issue, The Cooper Union, New York.
2023 Group Show, Climate Community Exhibition, October 3rd - 9th, The Cooper Union, New York.
2023 Curator, Group exhibition, مبلا אםבאלה Imbala, Jerusalem.
2023 Curator, End of the Year Show - History of Architecture, The Cooper Union - The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture, New York.
LECTURES & PUBLICATIONS
2026 Writer & lead researcher, "With Foreign Backing, Israel’s Solar Energy Boom is Powering Apartheid", +972 Magazine.
2025 Organizer & moderator, Blueprints of Abolition — Roundtable Discussion, Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York.
2025 Speaker, International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Nesoddtangen, Akershus, Norway.
2025 Podcast, Palestinapodden, Part I and Part II, Oslo, Norway.
2025 Interview, Dagbladet Magazine, "Israelis Need to be Deradicalized", Oslo, Norway.
2024 Speaker, A Conversation with Journalists in Palestine, The People's Forum, Pal-Awda Long Island, Code Pink NYC, Hosted by The People's Forum, New York.
2024 Speaker, Evening of Learning and Solidarity, Bronx Neighbors for Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, The Museum of Bronx History, Bronx, New York.
2024 Speaker, REFUSENIKS and SPIRIT TWISTER: Film and Talk, Diverse Filmmakers Alliance, TWNewsreel, Time of Day, in collaboration with Jewish Voice for Peace, Bronx Music Heritage Center Laboratory, Bronx, New York.
2023 Writer, "Aninut, Shiva, Shloshim, Avelot", The Cooper Union Pioneer, November issue, The Cooper Union, New York.
HONORS, SCHOLARSHIPS & GRANTS
2025 The Benjamin Menschel Fellowship Program to Support Creative Inquiry, The Horace W Goldsmith Foundation, The Cooper Union, New York.
2025 Fall 2024 Studio project selected by faculty for the Architecture Archive’s Collection, The Cooper Union, New York.
2025 Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation Grant, The Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation, New York.
2024 The Cooper Union Grant Program, "The Azolla Biofiltration Initiative: Decentralized Solutions for Water Scarcity", The Cooper Union, New York.
2024 Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation Grant, The Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation, New York.
2024 16 Cubits, co-sponsored by QuitCarbon, Re-Up Refills, hosted by Berkeley’s Urban Adamah, 1151 Sixth Street, Berkeley, CA.
2024 Spring 2024 Studio project selected by faculty for the Architecture Archive’s Collection, The Cooper Union, New York.
2024 IDC Foundation Art, Architecture, Construction, and Engineering (AACE) Lab Material Fund, The Cooper Union, New York.
2023 Content Vienna Production Grant, Junior Researcher for Logische Phantasie Lab [CiSci], Vienna Business Agency, Vienna.
2023 Spring 2023 Studio project selected by faculty for the Architecture Archive’s Collection, The Cooper Union, New York.
2023 Fall 2022 Studio project selected by faculty for the Architecture Archive’s Collection, The Cooper Union, New York.
2022 Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation Grant, The Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation, New York.
2022 - 2027 Innovator Scholarship, The Cooper Union - The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture, New York.