Sam Sanders (b. 1996) is an experimental analog photographer currently based in Richland, WA. She delights in experimentation by pushing back against the nature of standard photographic processes. Her work focuses on the exploration and expression of her identity as it relates to her practice and her environment. She gravitates towards the relationship between light and texture; the passage and perception of time and space; and the expression of self through varying visual takes on materiality and the ephemeral. Common threads that appear across her body of work include the exploration of liminal spaces and surrealism; the merging of the ethereal and corporeal; and the use of the body as an object in art.

Sam’s artistic process is a ritualistic one, most often solitary - a journey of self-expression, conceptualization, and contemplation. Armed with a medium format analog camera, a tripod, and a 20-foot shutter release cable, she begins her experimental works by capturing self-portraits on film while in an intimate space, such as her home studio or backyard. Sometimes the journey continues into experimentation with alternative printing processes, while other times the work quietly lives on as a traditional photographic print.

Notable artists that have inspired and influenced Sam’s body of work include photographers Francesca Woodman, Erin Graboski, and Brooke DiDonato; filmmakers David Lynch and Sky Hopinka; contemporary multidisciplinary artists like Joshua Ellingson and Susu Laroche; and even the bands Radiohead, Phantogram, Purity Ring, and Portishead. She also finds inspiration in the process of making her images and the moments of magic in mundanity.