SEPTEMBER EVENT PHOTOS

September’s global theme: Blossom

Columbus speaker: Kate Sweeney

Kate Sweeney is a self-taught photographer from Columbus, Ohio, who has described her process as therapy. “Taking self-portraits and photographing other women has been the most transformative part of my life,” she explains — “to see our bodies as art made autonomously and authentically instead of objects to be owned and desired.” Working collaboratively with her subjects, Sweeney strives to make honest, vulnerable portraits that are simultaneously defiant and inviting. Her photographs are a celebration of the human form, color, and our connection to nature, bearing witness to her subjects, and to them witnessing themselves. Her lifelong inspiration with the natural world, by our bodies and the connection they have to nature and how they mimic and reflect one another, is investigated in intimate interactions between figures and their surrounding environments. They are enveloped, being one with the earth that surrounds them resulting from spontaneous, unplanned moments. Kate has shown her photographs in numerous group and solo exhibitions across the United States. She is represented by Sarah Gormley Gallery, and her work has appeared in numerous photo books and magazines such as Billboard, Glamour Magazine, and Teen Vogue. Whether she is working with a big commercial client or a peer from her community, she hopes to maintain the same integrity in her approach to celebrate everyone’s unique, inner beauty.

See more photos here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCwESs