Eli Durst (b. July 2, 1989 in Austin, TX) studied American literature and history at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Upon graduation, he moved to New York City where he worked in the photography industry for three years, assisting street photographer Joel Meyerowitz and training as a professional fine art printer. Durst then attended graduate school, earning his MFA from the Yale School of Art in 2016 and receiving the the Richard Benson Prize for Excellence in Photography upon graduating. Durst received the 2016 Aperture Portfolio Prize for his series In Asmara, which examines the postcolonial legacy of Eritrea’s capital city, and a 2017 Aaron Siskind Individual Photographer’s Fellowship Grant. In 2019, Durst received a New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Artist Fellowship in the field of photography. His first monograph, The Community, was published by Mörel Books in May 2020.