Alex Prager was born in Los Angeles in 1979. She was raised by her grandmother in a small apartment in the suburb of Los Feliz. Her nomadic upbringing saw her splitting her time between Florida, California, and Switzerland without truly settling down long enough for a formal education. Prager's interest in art began in her adolescence, but it was in her early twenties that she began to focus on photography after being inspired by the work of William Eggleston.
In keeping with her independent spirit, she eschewed art school and began taking photographs on her own, teaching herself equipment and lighting through trial and error. Prager has since contributed to a number of publications including New York Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, Dazed and Confused, Details, i-D and Tank. All the while, continuing to exhibit her work in various galleries worldwide.
After the release of her first book The Book Of Disquiet (2005) Prager was given her first solo show at the Robert Berman Gallery in Santa Monica, CA entitled Polyester. Her 2008 exhibition The Big Valley shown by the Michael Hoppen Gallery, London, received critical acclaim.
Her most recent show entitled Week-end opened in Los Angeles, New York, London and Japan in 2010. This fall she will have her first museum show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in the "New Photography" exhibition.
Prager has had solo shows in New York, London, and Tokyo as well, and in 2010 she was selected as one of four artists to be included in the prestigious New Photography 2010 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Her work is held in collections of the Whitney Museum (New York), MoMA (New York), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA), Cincinnati Art Museum, Kunsthaus (Zurich), Moderna Museet (Stockholm) and the North Carolina Museum of Art.
London Times magazine said, “That she has buckets more vision than credentials matters not, it helps to retain the rawness and individuality of her eye. She is uncertain and dizzy – and very capable.”
"Her photographs reveal a keen eye for the shining and the bizarre, a bit Annie Leibovitz, a bit Diane Arbus."- The Los Angeles Times