Ilona Szwarc was born and raised in Warsaw, Poland. In 2008, she immigrated to New York City, where she currently lives and works. Prior to moving to US Ilona was working in the film industry. Her credits include working with directors: Jonathan Glazer, Roman Polanski and Andrzej Wajda. Ilona has worked for photographers Mary Ellen Mark and Joel Meyerowitz.
Szwarc's photographs have been exhibited internationally - in Paris, London, Bilbao and New York.  Her work has been published by numerous publications worldwide including TIME, The Sunday Times Magazine, The Telegraph Magazine, Surface China, PDN. Szwarc's work has also received significant exposure online, having been featured in The New York Times Lens Blog, The Huffington Post, MSNBC Today.com, GUP, Feature Shoot and Le Journal de la Photographie. She is represented by Galerie Claude Samuel in Paris.