Savannah O'Brien

05/02/2026

studio lighting final project spring ‘26

05/01/2026

living bratz dolls

04/30/2026

medium format photography final spring ‘26

selenium toned silver gelatin fiber prints
120 b&w kodak and kentmere film

04/30/2026

some more portrait practice from earlier in the semester; documenting the ones who are usually behind the lens

04/28/2026

just a baroque masterpiece in the modern world

01/27/2026

Stand with Immigrants sgf, mo
jan 31, 2025

pentax k1000 kodak gold

05/10/2025

Field Notes from the Hidden World

Spring ‘25 Alternative Process Final

“Field Notes from the Hidden World” is a photographic study shaped by the instinct to find meaning in what isn’t immediately defined. My first encounter with inkblots came through the novel Flowers for Algernon, where they held emotional weight and symbolized the uncertainty of identity and the shifting boundaries of understanding. That impression stayed with me and led to a deeper curiosity about the Rorschach test, which traces back to the 19th-century artistic practice of klecksography. German poet and physician Justinus Kerner created inkblots not to analyze but to imagine, often writing poems inspired by the ambiguous forms he saw in them, such as animals, faces, or otherworldly creatures rising from the unknown. His images have been described as “daguerreotypes of the hidden world,” a phrase that became a guiding metaphor for this project. It does not aim to reveal hidden truths, but to reflect our internal tendency to find pattern, to project meaning, and to recognize beauty in what first appears random.

This project consists of 34 cyanotypes made from both nature photographs and photograms of found natural materials, arranged in mirrored forms that recall the way we might have seen the world as children, finding shapes in the clouds and imagining monsters in the trees at night. It draws on pareidolia and invites a return to a more intuitive way of seeing, one shaped by mood, memory, and imagination. These images are not about reaching conclusions, but about remaining open to wonder and the possibility of many interpretations. What is revealed in the inkblot is not the world itself, but how the world is seen. The hidden world is not elsewhere, but just beneath the surface of what we allow ourselves to notice.

05/10/2025

A bit of a late post, but I’m grateful to have been part of the Juried Student Exhibition at the Carolla Arts Exhibition Center, juried by Sage Dawson from March 7-April 4. Sharing a few works by other amazing artists and peers from the show as well.

03/24/2025

02/03/2025

more images from my photo book

Asylum | Savannah O’Brien