ABOUT
Amber Shields’s mother gave her her first camera and set the trajectory of a life inspired by photography. Shields's work is heavily shaped by her childhood spent growing up in a northern Texas suburb and biannual trips to visit her maternal grandmother in Ponca City, Oklahoma. Along with her mother and sister, Shields female-centric nuclear family influenced her use of photography as a way to explore themes of family, mortality, and gender politics through a female-specific lens.
Her long-term projects straddle art photography and social documentary - while subject matter is often focused on family members’ narratives, she is not only a documentarian but also a participate in their story. The results of these explorations are displayed through photographic prints, video, installation, and treatment of objects from her subjects’ personal archives.
Shields earned an MFA from San Jose State University in California and a BA in Photojournalism from Loyola University in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 2018, her photographs received 2nd place Editor's Choice Award through CENTER Santa Fe and were selected for the PDN Photo Annual. Shields is the recipient of a 2017 New Orleans Photo Alliance grant. She resides in New Orleans, LA.
CURRICULUM VITAE
“A white blouse goes with everything.”
-Ola Mae Fleenor, great-grandmother
EDUCATION
MFA - San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
BA - Loyola University, New Orleans, LA
EXHIBITIONS
2022
Louisiana Contemporary 2022, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA
Crit Group Reunion, The Contemporary, Austin, TX
2019
UVA Arts, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
She, juried by Joyce Tenneson, A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX
2018
FULL CIRCLE: 2018 CENTER Award Winners, Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC
2nd place Editor's Choice winner for Center Santa Fe in 2018
PDN Photo Annual in 2018
2017
The Body is Bridge, Visual Art Center, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Bread & Butter: Milk, ICOSA, Austin, TX
Recipient of Michael P. Smith Fund grant, juried by Olivier Laurent of Time Lightbox, New Orleans Photo Alliance, New Orleans, LA
2016
Honesty of Rocks, The Contemporary Crit Group Exhibition, GrayDUCK, Austin, TX
2013
Fear and Loathing, curated by Katherine Ware, curator of Photography, New Mexico Museum of Art, Art Photo Index
2012
The Changing Face of Central Texas, The Long Center in Austin, TX
MATCHPLAY installation, Knockdown Center, Maspath, NY
2011
Finalist for New Orleans Photo Alliance Michael P. Smith Fund
2010
Selected to participate in Review Santa Fe 2010
Texas Photographic Society 19: The International Competition, juried by Katherine Ware, Johnson City, TX
(Por)trait Revealed, RayKo Gallery, San Francisco, CA
The Portrait, L. Nowlin Gallery, Austin, TX
2009
The People’s Gallery, Austin City Hall, Austin, TX
2005
Bearings, curated by Allen Frame, PS 122 Gallery, New York, NY
“PEEK” Art + Commerce Festival of Emerging Photographers, New York, NY
LAUNE Galerie, Tokyo, Japan
Space Fendi, via Sciesa 3, Milan, Italy
PhotoEspaña, Madrid, Spain
EXPOSweden, Stockholm, Sweden
PUBLICATIONS
Aint-Bad Magazine
Photographer’s Portfolio, Music Issue, Topic Magazine, Summer 2005
Yvi Magazine #6: Portrait
Flak Photo
Contact
ambershields@gmail.com