Ananda Connolly is a Philadelphia photographer and teaching artist, specializing photographic documentation of and for artists, makers and creatives. She received her BFA in photography from University of the Arts in 2000 and her Masters of Education in Art from Tyler School of Fine Arts, Temple University. She has participated in artist residencies and community art programs for school-age children, as well as teaching at the Fairmount and Queen Village Art Center. She began working with very young audiences as the Art Coordinator at Please Touch Museum, Philadelphia's Children's Museum. After her daughter was born, her joy in capturing the days and details of her family life prioritized photography over teaching full time.
Much of her art work develops through examination of relationships between people, and objects, and nature. As a photographer her focus is finding and capturing beauty in every subject. Book arts and printmaking combine an attraction to working in raw materials and using their inherent properties to create an image or object. Her books often combine various media, including drawings, prints, photography, digital manipulation, and sculptural elements.
Ananda’s current book work examines the physical concerns of storing and accessing memories, collections, narratives and specific objects. Most of these experiments have taken the shape of books and boxes that use forms from the graphic elements or themes expressed in letters, postcards, maps, and natural objects such as insects or nests. These experiments will be developed into albums and containers for photographs and collections that will be offered to clients, as a unique alternative to a standard photo book or shoebox.