Origin: New York, NY / London, UK
Currently Exhibiting in: Bushwick, Brooklyn
Web: noamoster.com
Instagram: @noam_oster
Noam Oster (b. 2003) is an American photographer whose work occupies the borderlands between street photography and intimate portraiture. Working between New York and London, Oster captures fleeting, emotionally charged moments in public space, rendering them with poetic sensitivity and documentary clarity. His practice draws from both analog and digital traditions, with a particular emphasis on hand-printing black-and-white images in the darkroom.
Currently earning his BFA at the University of the Arts London, Oster’s work has been exhibited at institutions such as The Photographer’s Gallery and the International Center of Photography. His approach to photography is rooted in observation but driven by deeper narrative impulses—where everyday gestures reveal quiet emotional weight.
Influenced by his grandmother’s belief that art must be both beautiful and politically attuned, Oster creates photographs that reflect the layered complexity of public life. His images are visual vignettes—dense, studied, and often marked by tension between the seen and unseen. Whether capturing firefighters in Midtown or a woman collapsed on the pavement, Oster resists sensationalism, inviting instead a closer, more ethical gaze.
For Oster, photography is an act of noticing and remembering. His images ask viewers to see the world not just as it is, but as it feels—to attend to fragility, interconnection, and the invisible forces that bind people together.
Featured Artwork at Bushwick Gallery
Gas Leak on 30th
Year of Creation: 2024
Medium: Gelatin silver print, hand-printed by the artist in 2025
Dimensions: 11 x 14 inches
Sale Price: $950 USD
Edition Type: Unique, 1 of 1
Current Location: New York, NY, USA
Fallen Woman
Year of Creation: 2024
Medium: Gelatin silver print, hand-printed by the artist in 2025
Dimensions: 10 ¾ x 13 ¾ inches
Sale Price: $950 USD
Edition Type: Unique, 1 of 1
Current Location: New York, NY, USA
Artist Statement
“My photographs sit somewhere between street photography and portraiture, though they resist categorization. I’m drawn to real moments that—when framed with care—reveal something more vulnerable, symbolic, and human. I photograph mostly in New York and London, paying attention to how people move through space, how they wait, retreat, and connect. These images often reflect my own inner state, hovering between observation and projection.
I shoot primarily on black-and-white film and hand-print each image in the darkroom. This slower process allows me to remain intentional and engaged. I want viewers not just to see, but to notice—to witness the small ruptures and gestures that carry emotional weight. There’s a documentary edge to my work, but also a poetic one. It’s about the delicate threshold between public life and private experience.”
Exhibition Information
April 2025: “Urban Narratives: The City as Canvas”
Curated by: Fern Messa Joson
Theme: Turning the cityscape into a canvas, this exhibition captures the raw, vibrant energy of urban life through graffiti, street photography, painting, and more.
Exhibition Dates: April 3 – April 10, 2025
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 3 | 6 PM – 8 PM
Guided audio experience
For accessibility, the full video transcript is provided below for those who prefer to read or are unable to listen.
“You’re looking at a moment that feels routine—mundane, even—but there’s weight in its stillness.
This photograph, titled Gas Leak on 30th, captures a quiet choreography in the middle of Manhattan: firefighters pause outside a storefront, their bodies mid-motion, their expressions unreadable. It’s not dramatic. No flames, no smoke. But there’s a tension—an awareness of danger not yet passed.
What Noam Oster does here is subtle but powerful. With careful composition and an eye for human posture, he draws you into a narrative that’s both civic and personal. Each figure is part of a scene, but also somehow isolated—moving with purpose, but emotionally elsewhere.
Shot on small format black-and-white film and printed by hand in the darkroom, the photograph resists immediacy. The process itself is slow, tactile, and deliberate—echoing the patience it takes to truly observe the world.
As you stand with this image, let your eye wander: the crisp lines of the fire jackets, the shadowed storefront, the soft grain of the silver print. You may begin to notice something else—the feeling of being a passerby, of watching care unfold from just outside the frame.
This is not just a picture of a gas leak. It’s a portrait of attention. Of service. Of the things we walk past every day without seeing. And through Oster’s lens, it becomes a kind of quiet poem to the city.”