by Jana Astanov
Featured image by Shelley Niro
From the Turtle Island Photo Fair AIPAD at Manhattan’s Armory, this is part one of CREATRIX Magazine’s selection of women photographers who dream within the collective — envisioning peace and deepening our connection to Earth and to one another through portrait photography, performative actions for the camera, experimentation, sculptural forms, documentary work, and more.
1. Shelley Niro
Stephen Bulger Gallery @stephenbulgergallery
A Mohawk artist from the Turtle Clan, Shelley Niro fuses humor, beauty, and sharp political insight in staged portraits that reclaim Indigenous identity. Represented by Stephen Bulger Gallery, her work balances reverence and satire with unwavering presence.
2. Cara Romero
at Scheinbaum & Russek @scheinbaumrussek
A Chemehuevi artist, Cara Romero uses vivid portraiture to tell intergenerational stories and celebrate Indigenous futurisms. At Scheinbaum & Russek, her work is both archival and urgent, reclaiming visual sovereignty through empowered gazes.
3. Koyoltzintli
at MIYAKO YOSHINAGA @miyako_yoshinaga_llc
Born in New York City and raised in both the United States and Ecuador, Koyoltzintli is an interdisciplinary artist whose work delves into themes of memory, ritual, and the natural world. Her practice encompasses photography, performance, and installation, often reflecting on her Indigenous heritage and the interconnectedness of humans and nature.
Robert Mann Gallery @robertmanngallery
Spandita Malik (b. 1995) is a New York-based artist from Chandigarh, India, whose work focuses on women’s rights and empowerment. In her vibrant textile-infused portraits, Spandita Malik collaborates with women across India, combining embroidery with photographic prints. Shown by Robert Mann Gallery, her work is a cross-cultural dialogue on resilience, craft, and feminine labor.
5. Sharon Walters
@london_artist1 att HackelBury Fine Art @hackelburyfineart
London-based artist Sharon Walters (b. 1975) is known for her intricate paper cut-out collages that celebrate Black women and challenge mainstream beauty standards. Her ongoing series, “Seeing Ourselves,” combines fine art with activism, aiming to increase representation and visibility for marginalized communities through delicate and powerful imagery.
6. Amanda Marchand & Leah Sobsey
@amandabethmarchand & @leahsobsey at Rick Wester Fine Art
Amanda Marchand is a Canadian photographer based in New York, whose experimental approach to photography investigates the natural world and climate change. Her recent work, “This Earthen Door,” uses camera-less techniques to create ethereal images that reflect on environmental themes.
Leah Sobsey, an image maker and Associate Professor of Photography at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, combines photography with science and design. Her multidisciplinary practice explores the natural world through archives and taxonomies, employing experimental and materials-based approaches to create immersive installations.
at Robert Mann Gallery @robertmanngallery
Maria Antelman (b. 1971) is a Greek-born, New York-based visual artist who works primarily with 35mm film photography, sculpture, sound, and animation. Her art examines technological progress from a feminine perspective, reevaluating our connection to nature, history, and the self, often through a lens of speculative fiction and critical inquiry.
at Robert Mann Gallery @robertmanngallery
Jenny Calivas is an American artist whose photographic work explores the relationship between the body and the earth. Her series “Surface Thing” includes self-portraits and performative acts that delve into themes of embodiment, nature, and the subconscious, creating images that are both intimate and enigmatic.
at Robert Mann Gallery @robertmanngallery
Peruvian artist Ana Teresa Barboza (b. 1981) merges photography with embroidery to create tactile pieces that explore the boundaries between the natural and the constructed. Her work often features landscapes and organic forms, with threads extending beyond the photographic frame, inviting viewers to contemplate the interconnectedness of ecosystems and human intervention.
10. Justine Kurland
at Aperture @aperturefnd
Justine Kurland (b. 1969) is an American fine art photographer renowned for her staged images of adolescent girls in idyllic, often wild landscapes. Her seminal series “Girl Pictures” (1997–2002) presents a utopian vision of female independence and camaraderie, challenging traditional narratives and offering alternative representations of girlhood and freedom.
at Rose Gallery @rosegallery.official
Mexican photographer Tania Franco Klein (b. 1990) creates cinematic images that delve into themes of social behavior, emotional disconnection, and the pursuit of the American dream. Influenced by her background in architecture and photography, her work reflects on contemporary anxieties and the psychological effects of modern life, often featuring solitary figures in staged, surreal environments.
12. Luzia Simons
at Galerija Fotografija @galerijafotografija
German-Brazilian artist Luzia Simons is known for her innovative “scanograms,” high-resolution images created using a scanner instead of a camera. Her work often features lush floral compositions that reference Dutch still-life painting, exploring themes of transience, beauty, and cultural identity through a contemporary lens.
13. Mejung Park
Candela Gallery @candelabooksandgallery
Seoul-based artist Mejung Park’s series “Still Life for Things that Need a Goodbye” transforms discarded everyday items into delicate sculptures adorned with paper flowers. Through these assemblages, Park reflects on themes of loss, memory, and the life cycles of objects, inviting viewers to consider the emotional resonance of the mundane.
Todays’s New Moon in tropical Taurus and sidereal Aries, is tightly conjunct Schedir, the heart star of Cassiopeia (the seated queen), bringing themes of feminine wisdom, authentic leadership, and luminous visibility. May the sacred feminine within you rise in sovereignty, blessing all you touch with tenderness, courage, and timeless knowing.
About the author:
Jana Astanov is a Polish-born interdisciplinary artist and writer based in the U.S., originally from the Masurian Lake District. She is the author of five poetry collections, including Antidivine, Norther Grimoire, Sublunar, The Pillow Book of Burg, and Birds of Equinox. Her upcoming book, Avant-Garden, will be published by Red Temple Press in May 2025. She is the co-founder of CREATRIXmag. Follow her on IG @Jana_Astanov
