Ahndraya Parlato Headshot

Ahndraya Parlato

Senior Lecturer

School of Photographic Arts and Sciences
College of Art and Design
adppph@rit.edu
Office Location
GAN-2189

Ahndraya Parlato

Senior Lecturer

School of Photographic Arts and Sciences
College of Art and Design

Education

BA, Bard College; MFA, California College of the Arts

Bio

Ahndraya Parlato has a BA from Bard College and an MFA from California College of the Arts. She has published three books: Who Is Changed and Who Is Dead, (Mack Books, 2021), A Spectacle and Nothing Strange, (Kehrer Verlag, 2016), and East of the Sun, West of the Moon, (a collaboration with Gregory Halpern, Études Books, 2014). Additionally, Ahndraya has contributed texts to Double feature (St. Lucy Books, 2025), Photo No-Nos: Meditations on What Not to Shoot (Aperture, 2021), and The Photographer’s Playbook (Aperture, 2014). She has exhibited work at: Spazio Labo, in Bologna, Italy, Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburgh, PA, The Aperture Foundation, New York, NY, and The Swiss Institute, Milan, Italy. Ahndraya has been awarded residencies at Light Work and The Visual Studies Workshop, grants from Light Work, the New York Foundation for the Arts. She and has been a nominee for the ICP Infinity Award, the Paul Huf Award from the FOAM Museum in Amsterdam, and the SECCA Award from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and is a 2024 Guggenheim Foundation Fellow. Ahndraya’s most recent project, TIME TO KILL is forthcoming from Mack Books. 

adppph@rit.edu
Personal Links
Personal Website
Curriculum Vitae
Areas of Expertise
Fine Art Photography
Photography

Select Scholarship

BOOKS

2021    Who Is Changed and Who Is Dead, Mack Books, (monograph)

            Photo NoNo’s, Aperture

2020    Keeper of the Hearth: Picturing Roland Barthes’ Unseen Image, Schilt                   Publishing

2016    A Spectacle and Nothing Strange, Kehrer Verlag, (monograph)

2014    The Photographer’s Playbook, Aperture 

            East of the Sun, West of the Moon, Études Books (monograph)

Currently Teaching

PHAR-201
Elements of Fine Art Photography
3 Credits
This course will offer students an introduction to the discipline of fine art photography. Conceptually driven projects will be investigated through a variety of photographic techniques; reading, writing and discussion about the intent and meaning of photographic imagery will be emphasized. Aspects of still photography and moving imagery as artistic choices and practices will be presented. The goal of the course is to establish theoretical, aesthetic and technical strategies for the production of photographic artwork. If you are pursing the Fine Art Photography option this course is required.
PHAR-599
Photography Independent Study
1 - 3 Credits
Photography Independent Study will provide students with the ability to study in a specialized area with an individual faculty member. Students, with the assistance of a faculty adviser, will propose a course of study. Photography Independent Study students must obtain permission of an instructor and complete the Independent Study Permission Form to enroll.
PHFA-511
Contemporary Issues
3 Credits
A study of current issues relevant to imaging-based fine art photography and related media; how they relate to broader historical/cultural issues; and how they might suggest future directions. Emphasis is placed on the integration of critical theoretical discourse and studio practice. This course is a touchstone to current and future fine art practices through its engagement with a variety of subjects. This course can be taken multiple times but individual topics must be different.
PHGR-611
Contemporary Issues
3 Credits
This course will study current issues relevant to imaging-based fine art photography and related media; how they relate to broader historical/cultural issues, and how they might suggest future directions. Emphasis is placed on the integration of critical theoretical discourse and studio practice. This course is a touchstone to current and future fine art practices through its engagement with a variety of subjects. This course may be repeated with different topics. Topic is determined by the instructor.
PHGR-703
Studio Core I
6 Credits
This critique course, the first in a two semester sequence, will establish a working methodology, critically engage with peers, and develop a body of new artwork. At the conclusion of the semester, all students will participate in a work share event.
PHGR-724
Professional Development for the Emerging Artist
3 Credits
This course prepares students for entering a career in the arts. Course content covers practical information related to professional practice such as crafting a CV, grant writing, writing an artist’s statement, creating a professional application packet and researching exhibition spaces and other opportunities for artists.
PHGR-799
MFA Photography Independent Study
1 - 4 Credits
An independent study allows graduate students in the Photography and Related Media program the ability to study in a specialized area with an individual faculty member. Students, with the assistance of a faculty adviser, should propose a course of study or project with clearly defined goals and outcomes. Students must obtain permission of an instructor and complete the Independent Study Permission Form to enroll. **NOTE: Student must have a minimum 3.0 GPA *
PHGR-890
Thesis
6 Credits
Students produce a thesis as a component of the MFA degree in Photography and Related Media. The completion of the thesis exhibition, from artwork to the installation, is the focus of this course.

In the News

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Featured Work

Who Is Changed and Who Is Dead

Ahndraya Parlato

In Who is Changed and Who is Dead, I use the life-changing events of my mother’s suicide and the birth of my children as the genesis for an expansive project exploring the contradictory and complex...

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A Spectacle and Nothing Strange

Ahndraya Parlato

Irrational images flash through our minds all the time, in dreams and daydreams. This project imagines an oscillation between these "internal" and "external" images, revealing the possibilities of...

View More about A Spectacle and Nothing Strange
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