faculty
Holly Lynton
faculty
Holly Lynton
Holly Lynton is an artist primarily in photography with a multidisciplinary, research-based practice that includes writing, historical research, and collaborative works in other media. Her background in psychology inspires her to explore core aspects of humanity, filtered through local contexts. Her photographs are made in rural communities in the United States with a focus on their agricultural history, current industry, and ritual. Through her images, she underscores the importance of having unmediated experiences with nature and explores issues of sustainability. Currently, her work is investigating the intersection of spirituality, labor, and the environment. By incorporating recognizable symbols and allusions, Lynton highlights how cultural visual memory influences what we see in photographs.
Lynton's photographs have been exhibited internationally; recent exhibitions include On the Basis of Art, 150 Years of Women at Yale (2021), at the Yale University Art Gallery, and a solo exhibition in collaboration with Maurice Wallace: Meeting Tonight: Two South Carolina African American Camp Meetings at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University (2022). Her first book Bare Handed was published in 2022 by L’Artiere Edizioni. Her book and photographs are held in several public collections such as the Yale University Art Gallery, the Nelson Atkins Museum, MoMA Library Collection, the Watson Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, Los Angeles County Museum of Art Library Collection, the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, The Fidelity Collection, Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, the Ingalls Library and Museum Archives, Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami among others. Lynton has received numerous awards and grants including an Aaron Siskind Individual Photographer’s Fellowship, a Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship, the 2021 Critical Mass Top 50, and the Syngenta Photography Award. She has been nominated for the Maud Morgan Prize at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, a St Botolph Distinguished Artist Award, a Prix Pictet, and a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship. Yale University awarded her a postdoctoral research fellowship in 2019 at the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition for her series Meeting Tonight, an exploration of Methodist camp meetings in South Carolina. Her work has been featured in and she has worked on consignment for publications such as The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Guardian, The Miami Herald, Southern Cultures, and Harvard Design Magazine, and Bloomberg Businessweek. Lynton has been a guest lecturer and led workshops at numerous institutions internationally including Mass MoCA, Yale University, the University of South Carolina, Amherst College, Los Angeles Center for Photography, and the Heidelberg Center for American Studies in Heidelberg, Germany.
Lynton received a BA in psychology from Yale University in 1994 and an MFA in Photography from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College in 2000.
Lynton's photographs have been exhibited internationally; recent exhibitions include On the Basis of Art, 150 Years of Women at Yale (2021), at the Yale University Art Gallery, and a solo exhibition in collaboration with Maurice Wallace: Meeting Tonight: Two South Carolina African American Camp Meetings at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University (2022). Her first book Bare Handed was published in 2022 by L’Artiere Edizioni. Her book and photographs are held in several public collections such as the Yale University Art Gallery, the Nelson Atkins Museum, MoMA Library Collection, the Watson Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, Los Angeles County Museum of Art Library Collection, the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, The Fidelity Collection, Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, the Ingalls Library and Museum Archives, Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami among others. Lynton has received numerous awards and grants including an Aaron Siskind Individual Photographer’s Fellowship, a Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship, the 2021 Critical Mass Top 50, and the Syngenta Photography Award. She has been nominated for the Maud Morgan Prize at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, a St Botolph Distinguished Artist Award, a Prix Pictet, and a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship. Yale University awarded her a postdoctoral research fellowship in 2019 at the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition for her series Meeting Tonight, an exploration of Methodist camp meetings in South Carolina. Her work has been featured in and she has worked on consignment for publications such as The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Guardian, The Miami Herald, Southern Cultures, and Harvard Design Magazine, and Bloomberg Businessweek. Lynton has been a guest lecturer and led workshops at numerous institutions internationally including Mass MoCA, Yale University, the University of South Carolina, Amherst College, Los Angeles Center for Photography, and the Heidelberg Center for American Studies in Heidelberg, Germany.
Lynton received a BA in psychology from Yale University in 1994 and an MFA in Photography from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College in 2000.