Biography & Information
Portrait © Sierra Taylor, 2017
Biography:
With an interest in Art and Science, Susan kae Grant is a Texas based artist exploring dreams,
memory and the unconscious using the shadow as metaphor to create fabricated narratives and
shadow portraits. Grant has lectured and exhibited her work throughout the United States, Canada,
China, Europe, Australia, British Columbia, Africa, Guatemala, and Japan. She is on the staff of the
International Center of Photography (NYC) where she has taught photographic bookmaking
workshops each spring since 1993.
Process:
To create her images, Grant photographs shadows of models and props in her Dallas studio using
a 4x5 view camera with a digital Leaf back. The gestures and narratives in the images take inspiration
from sleep laboratory research, dream recordings, memory and journal sketches. The printed images
consist of limited edition photographs printed on Hahnemüle 308 Rag, a 100% cotton
museum-quality paper. The combination of the paper surface and dark color palette illuminates the
emotional quality of the work. To see a video documentation and Hahnemüle endorsement of a set
being created in the studio, go to: http://www.susankaegrant.com/skg864px.mp4.
Book Art:
Under the press name, The Black Rose Press, Grant has produced thirteen limited edition artists’
books incorporating photographic images and text with letterpress and digital technologies on fine
art and handmade papers. In 2005, in collaboration with Graphic designer, Randal Hill, she produced
Shadowed Memory during an artist residency at Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, New York.
A selection of Grant’s curatorial projects related to Book Arts include, Photographic Book Art in the
United States, which toured to seventeen venues throughout the USA from 1991-1995, and
The Book Reconfigured, a survey of women book artists residing in Texas which toured to two Texas
venues in 1995-1996.
Public Collections:
• Boston Athenaeum
• Center for Creative Photography (Tucson)
• Columbia University
• Detroit Public Library
• Frito Lay Corporate Collection
• The George Eastman House
• The J. Paul Getty Museum
• Kresge Art Museum at Michigan State
• The Minneapolis Art Institute
• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
• New York Public Library (Spencer Collection)
• Phoenix Public Library (Rare Book Collection)
• The Smithsonian Institution Library
(Special Collections)
• The Tokyo Museum of Photography
• The Victoria and Albert Museum Library
Awards of Excellence::
• Julia Margaret Cameron Award For Women
Photographers, Fine Art Category (2017)
• 2017 Clarence John Laughlin Award (Finalist)
• PhotoNola Review Prize (2017 & 2014)
• Critical Mass Top 50, Photolucida (2014)
• Black & White Spider Award (2012)
• Discoveries of the Meeting Place,
Houston Fotofest (2002)
Publications featuring Grant's work:
• New York Times LightBox
• Diffusion Magazine
• Adore Noir
• Black + White Photography
• PhotoVideoEDU
• Smithsonian Magazine
• D Magazine
• FotoMAGAZIN
Books featuring Grant's work:
• The Elements of Photography (Focal Press)
• Launching the Imagination
(McGraw Hill Education)
• Photography 4.0: A Teaching Guide for the
21st Century (Focal Press)
• Exploring Color Photography (Focal Press)
• The Century of Artists' Books (Granary Books)
• Neither Man Nor Beast: Feminism and the
Defense of Animals (Lantern Books)
• The Sexual Politics of Meat
(Bloomsbury Academic)
• Structure of the Visual Book
(Keith Smith Books)
• Photographic Possibilities (Focal Press)
• Constructed: The Contemporary History of the
Constructed Image in Photography Since 1990
(Routledge Taylor & Francis Group) 2018
Commissions, Freelance, Licensing:
In addition to her fine art studio practice, Susan kae Grant is available for exhibitions, lectures,
workshops, curatorial projects and her images are available for licensing.
As recipient of a public art commission in Dallas, Texas she designed the Southwestern
Medical District/Parkland Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Station, which incorporates
a selection of shadow images and texts created specifically for the station.
Shadow Portrait Commissions:
Grant enjoys working with patrons to create individualized commissioned shadow portraits
reminiscent of traditional silhouette portraits of the late 18th century. The formal execution
of her portraits captures an evocative romanticism that emanates a contemporary ambiance
and can be traced back stylistically to her fascination with shadows in her on-going body of
work Night Journey.
Gallery Representation (Print & Book Sales)
• Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Texas
Nancy Whitenack, Director (214.939.0064)
http://www.conduitgallery.com
• Texas; Vamp & Tramp Booksellers, LTD
Birmingham, AL (205.824.2300)
Vicky and Bill Stewart, Directors
http://www.vampandtramp.com
• See+Gallery (Shanghai, China)
(+86-10-59789266)
www.seegallery.net/artist/artist_work.aspx?id=82)