Nadia Benchallal was born in 1963 in Orthez-France to French Algerian parents. In 1991, she studied photography at the International Center of Photography in New York City. She subsequently acquired professional experience assisting photographers such as Joshua Greene, Antoine Verglas, Martine Barrat, Arthur Elgort, and the portraitist Annie Leibovitz. In 1992, Benchallal began a personal project on the everyday life of Algerian women. She then decided to extend her work to a larger theme: Muslim women over the world. It gave her the opportunity to travel widely over the years, exploring her vision of the lives of Muslim women in Algeria, Bosnia, Palestine, Burma, Iran, and Malaysia. Since 1994, she has worked internationally for magazines, such as Le Monde, GEO, La Republica, El PaÏs, L'Orient Express, The New York Times, and Aperture. Her work was exhibited on multiple occasions, most recently 'Sisters' was shown at the University of New York in Abu Dhabi. For three years, Benchallal taught photography at the 'Buc Ressources' school of social workers near Versailles. In 2011, she was invited to be a jury member of The China International Press Photo Contest.