Beauty in the Darkness: Creating Art From Personal Experience with Brooke Shaden

Join fine-art photographer Brooke Shaden for a thought-provoking conversation about welcoming the full spectrum of human emotion into the creative process. As both an artist and an educator, Brooke encourages her fellow creators not to shy away from grief and the shadows of life, but instead to channel those experiences into creating honest and resonant work.

In this presentation, Brooke reflects on lessons learned over years of creating darkly surreal imagery rooted in self-expression. Her practice is largely defined by solitary self-portraiture, allowing herself to inhabit the roles of both character and creator and to share about her life in a deeply personal way. Brooke explores the interplay between photographing herself, others, and nature, and then blending these images together to create cohesive works rich with narrative. She also discusses the guiding philosophy behind her work: that darkness can be beautiful, and that embracing grief can ultimately invite in hope.

Brooke shares images from her most personal project to date, IM/PERMANENCE, offering a behind-the-scenes look at this unreleased series. She discusses how artists can draw from their own lived experiences to conceptualize and create impactful work, while outlining the practical steps of her process–ideation, set-up, photographing, editing, and marketing her fine-art photography–packed full of tips you can incorporate into your own craft. 

Brooke’s 45-minute presentation is followed by 15-minutes of Q&A. At the end of our program, Brooke will randomly select one person in the webinar audience to receive her fine art book, Reflection.

Creativity Continues is a program that collectively develops creative voices by offering connection and encouraging expression. Because the goal is to engage all within our creative community, we encourage you to extend invitations and share Santa Fe Workshops Creativity Continues events with anyone who expresses an interest.