My work lives at the intersection of art, ecology, ancestry, and truth-seeking. As I restore my half-acre of land into a certified National Wildlife Habitat — a living Overstory of fruit trees, pollinator pathways, native plants, and shared nourishment — my art evolves alongside it. Growing food for myself and my community, carving out space for pollinators to thrive, and rebuilding a relationship with the land has become inseparable from my creative process. This isn’t just art; it’s a way of being conscious and accountable to the world around me. A practice of remembering. A practice of reimagining.
Rooted in poetry and journalism, my visual art is a living, feeling story. The forms may appear disparate — astrophotography, documentary, still life, digital and film, color and black and white — but to me, they are part of the same ecology. Each image is an inquiry into what lies beneath initial perception. I am always searching for truth, for the unseen patterns, for the connective tissue between past and present, land and body, memory and myth.
In every creative project, I look for the poetry at its core. In the stars, I trace what unfolds over time — the long arcs our eyes can’t capture alone. In portraits, I wait for expressions that reveal soul. In still life, I construct visual poems through symbols. Across all genres, my work is driven by an exploration of what colonization has severed: our ancient cultural lineages, egalitarian and matriarchal traditions, community-centered values, spiritual practices deeply intertwined with the earth. These systems — rooted in reciprocity rather than domination — were replaced with constructs that exalt hierarchy, binary thinking, and the erasure of nuance.
Each piece I create is an invitation to deconstruct the stories that confine us: to question assumptions about family, femininity, spirituality, power, and belonging. My work confronts the realities of mental health in a society that demands perfection, while also celebrating the messy, raw, beautiful truths lived at the margins.
In a world obsessed with the surface, I aim to dig deeper — to unravel patterns, expose roots, and illuminate the societal issues we are often too afraid to name. My art is not an escape from the world but an inquiry into it, shaped by the land I steward and the stories I refuse to let die.
I work with two cameras, each with its own spirit: a Nikon Z7 and a Rolleiflex 3.5. Film slows me down, asking for presence, patience, and intention. Digital lets me move with immediacy and instinct. Together they create a dual language — one deliberate, one responsive.
Born in New York, I began photographing more than 20 years ago, learning on film and beginning my career as a photojournalist in the U.S. Virgin Islands. My decade of journalism — covering protests, government hearings, disaster aftermath, community rituals, and investigative stories — shaped my understanding of narrative, responsibility, and witnessing. Today, those roots remain central to my fine art practice.
I now live in Atlanta, Georgia, where I direct creative teams and continue pursuing my own visual narratives — one frame at a time, one season at a time, one layer of Overstory at a time.
-Stephanie
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