Snapshot: Photographer Artist-in-Residence

Photo-based artist Deana Lawson is Third Street’s newest Artist-in-Residence. 

Lawson’s photos may surprise, and possibly shock, the average viewer. Her work embraces the body—especially nudity—to explore personal, psychological and political themes. According to the Museum of Modern Art, it explores “the body’s ability to channel personal and social histories, drawing on the various formal and informal languages of the medium and its archival capabilities.”

Lawson, a 2004 graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, shared a gallery space in the MoMA in 2011 where she displayed her work. Lawson has been interviewed by the New Yorker and won the NYFA Grant in 2006 and the Aaron Siskind Fellowship Grant in 2009. She currently lives in Brooklyn.

 Lawson initially began photographing family members and close friends, but as her work evolved, she moved on to strangers in the street. According to the MoMA, Lawson feels they are “her family.” 

Lawson’s photos capture her models in ways that make viewers feel an intense rush of emotion. She depicts an array of situations, settings and sensations. 

She will be at Lafayette until March 4, lecturing students and working on her own projects.