Michael Dweck is a contemporary American photographer and filmmaker. Though perhaps best known for his sensuous images of the female form, Dweck's practice focuses on examining the nature of identity within society. “I think the art endures because it represents an idealized sense of place, and reinforces the idea that memory—individual or communal—can make [a] place timeless,” he said of photography. Born on September 26, 1957 in Brooklyn, NY, Dweck was raised on Long Island and went on to receive his BFA from the Pratt Institute. Long Island’s beaches and surf culture serve as inspiration for his photographs, which strive to evoke nostalgia. The bold eroticism of his nude photographs in Mermaids (2008), is at times reminiscent of Jock Sturges’s beachscapes. Dweck’s Long Island residence often serves as backdrop for his shoots and was the subject of his photo book The End: Montauk, N.Y. (2004), a sensitive portrait of an isolated fishing community. In 2012, the artist became the first American contemporary artist to have solo exhibition in Cuba since the United States embargo in 1958. Dweck currently lives and works in New York, NY. Today, his works are held in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and he is the recipient of numerous honors, such as the Gold Lion from the Cannes International Film Festival.