Artist Bio: Savannah Dodd
Savannah Dodd, b. 1991, is a photographer and anthropologist. Originally from St. Louis, USA, she now lives on the Ards Peninsula in Northern Ireland. In 2017, Savannah founded the Photography Ethics Centre.
Savannah has had a life-long interest in art. Her grandmother, portrait artist Sallie Day Mogerman, ensured that art played a key role in her childhood, from pastels to the potter's wheel. With her encouragement, Savannah won her first photography contest at age eleven.
Previously working digitally with a documentary practice, Savannah’s work has transitioned to more experimental forms in recent years. Her most recent body of work, slow still life, used sustainable methods of analogue film development and darkroom printing. These analogue processes aligned with the concept of slow living which underpinned the project. Alignment between medium, method, and message is central to her practice.
Savannah has photographed for a wide range of clients, including for international development NGOs, arts festivals, architects, and universities. Her photographs have appeared in local newspapers and in global journals, including The Lancet. Her photography is heavily influenced by her background in anthropology, and she often draws on her research practice in her creative work. Anthropology has also influenced her approach to ethics, as described in her Statement of Ethics. Her personal projects centre on themes of health, family, and identity. She is currently focused on the further dissemination of her photobook Thanks, Gd and her exhibition slow still life.
Savannah earned her PhD in anthropology at Queen's University Belfast (2023), her MA in anthropology and sociology from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva (2015), and her BA in anthropology and religious studies at Washington University in St. Louis (2012). Her work in anthropology explores the nexus between religion, politics, identity, and conflict, especially as it relates to visual culture.
Savannah is a member of the Ethical Journalism Network’s UK Committee, of Las Fotos Project’s The Foto Awards Host Committee, and of the board of Source Magazine. She sits on the ethics panel for the Environmental Photographer of the Year Award and on the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s Rural Deliberative Forum.
Awards
2024 Grant recipient of the National Lottery Travel Award from Arts Council NI
2023 Grant recipient of the Support for Individual Artists Programme (SIAP) from Arts Council NI
2023 Short-listed for the RHA Clare Island Residency
2023 Grant recipient of the Richard and Siobhán Coward Foundation Grant for Analogue Photography
2022 Grant recipient of the Artists Grant from the Ards and North Down Borough Council
2021 Grant recipient of the Arts Council NI Creative Individuals Recovery Programme
2020 Grant recipient of the Rebecca Vassie Trust Education and Training Bursary
2020 Grant recipient of the Artists Resilience Fund from Arts Council NI
2020 Grant recipient of the IWMF Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists
2020 Grant recipient of the Artists Emergency Programme from Arts Council NI
2020 Grant recipient of the Public Health Agency Research and Development Fund
2019 Grant recipient of the Rebecca Vassie Trust Education and Training Bursary
2018 Grant recipient of the Rebecca Vassie Trust Education and Training Bursary
2018 Finalist for the Howard Chapnick Grant
2016 Long-listed for the Rebecca Vassie Memorial Award
2013 Honourable Mention for "After the Rain" at the St. Louis Artists’ Guild
Group Exhibitions
2023 HALFTONE Print Fair at The Library Project, Dublin, Ireland
2022 Dublin Art Book Fair: A Caring Matter at Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin, Ireland (Curator: Rosie Lynch, Creative Director of Workhouse Union in Kilkenny)
2018 An Untold Story at The Hallows Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland
2016 The Bangor Poetry Competition Exhibition at The Blackberry Path Studios, Bangor, Northern Ireland
2016 Humankind at Foundry Arts Centre, St. Charles, MO, USA (Juror: Eric Wieringa, Professor of Art, St. Louis, MO, USA)
2016 Streetscapes at 1650 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2015 Context at Foundry Arts Centre, St. Charles, MO, USA (in collaboration with Chris Jenkins) (Juror: Buzz Spector, Professor of Art in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis)
2015 Collectors Choice XIV at St. Louis Artists’ Guild, St. Louis, MO, USA (invitational)
2015 #culture: Talking about Ethnography at Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland
2014 Photography V at Foundry Arts Centre, St. Charles, MO, USA (Juror: Tony Schanuel, artist, St. Louis, MO, USA)
2014 Instagram at 1650 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2013 Photo Op at St. Louis Artists’ Guild, St. Louis, MO, USA (Juror: Daniel Farnum, Professor of Photography, St. Louis, MO, USA)
Solo Exhibitions
2023 slow still life at Ards Art Centre, Newtownards, Northern Ireland
2018 Kabira Village at Stormont Parliament Buildings, Belfast, Northern Ireland
2016 Election Day at The John Hewitt, Belfast, Northern Ireland
2016 Sacred Spaces at Focus Gallery, Chiang Mai, Thailand (in association with F/28 Chiang Mai Month of Photography)
2011 La vie parisienne at Café Ventana, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Photographic Publications
2023 “slow still life” in Carte Blanche, issue 47
2021 “Elder care and wellbeing during COVID-19 pandemic” in The Lancet, v. 398, n. 10318
2019 “Music, memory, and the self in dementia” in The Lancet, v. 394, n. 10216
2018 “Mosquito Net Inspection in Kabira, Uganda” in The Lancet, v. 392, n. 10165
2017 "Dandelions" in Freckle, issue 5
2016 "Four Photographs: Belfast" in The Tangerine, issue 1
Note: For writing on photography, see articles.
Portfolio Reviews Conducted
2024 Society for Photographic Education
2023 Redeye: The Photographic Network
2022 Redeye: The Photographic Network
2019 Royal Photographic Society
Curated and Jurored Exhibitions
2020 Global Health Symposium Photography Exhibition - Queen’s University Belfast - Online
2020 Những câu chuyện được viết tiếp - Hanoi University of Public Health - Hanoi, Vietnam
2019 Global Health Symposium Photography Exhibition - Queen’s University Belfast - Belfast, Northern Ireland
2016 Ethnographic Film Series, Documentary Arts Asia - Chiang Mai, Thailand
Interviews and PRess
2023 Belfast Telegraph
2023 Documentary Storytellers Podcast
2023 The Beginner Photography Podcast
2021 BBC Radio 3
2016 103.2 Dublin City FM
2013 St. Louis Artists’ Guild
Training and Workshops Attended
2024 Annual Conference of the Society for Photographic Education
2022 Land Narratives Workshop with Hanna-Katrina Jędrosz, Land Art Collective
2022 Chlorophyll and Anthotype Printing Workshops with Almudena Romero
2022 Eco Praxis Waste Management with General Treegan (aka Andrés Pardo)
2022 Darkroom Printing, Gallery of Photography Ireland
2021 Hostile Environment Training at Ulster University, funded by the Rory Peck Trust
2021 Plant-Based Developer Workshop with Melanie King, Online through the Rebecca Vassie Trust
2019 Make a Photobook Workshop, Read That Image, Ireland
2019 The Institutional Lives of Photographs, V&A Museum, England
2019 Digital Safety Workshop, World Press Photo Festival, The Netherlands
2018 International Conference on Photography and Theory, IAPT, Cyprus
2017 Refugee Narratives Workshop, Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland
2016 Source Magazine Portfolio Review, Northern Ireland
