Uzi Parnes (b. 1954) is a visual artist, photographer, and filmmaker who lives and works in New York City. He received a PhD in Performance Studies and an MA in Drama from New York University, and a BA in Theater from The State University of New York at Stony Brook. Since the 1980s, he has photographed and documented avant-garde performance and the architectural ruins of Downtown New York.

Between 1982 to 1989, Parnes collaborated closely with Jack Smith to create an extensive photographic archive of images of the legendary artist and filmmaker and his costumes, sets, and performances. He has presented his photographs of Smith as slide shows and printed images, including at 80WSE, New York University (NYU). Parnes has also written and directed numerous videos and short films, which have been shown extensively in international film festivals, on PBS, and at Anthology Film Archives and The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, where over forty of his films are held in the permanent collection. His most recent film, 11>12 (Eleven Is Bigger than Twelve) (2025), will premiere as part of MoMA’s Modern Mondays series on April 27, 2026. The screening will be followed by a conversation between Parnes, Sur Rodney (Sur), and Ron Magliozzi, Curator, Department of Film at MoMA.