About

Shannon Ryan is a photographer based in Bedfordshire, England, whose portraiture, and fashion photography present parallel worlds. Inspired by pop culture and current trends her fashion imagery experiments with texture, colour, and lighting both on location and within a studio. Whereas her portraiture explores darker themes, producing work with subliminal messages about question hard-hitting topics and makes viewers question her pieces. A new recurring theme within her portrait photography is the psychological and emotional impact of current world issues. Her series ‘The Sleeper’ documents the mental and physical impact Covid-19 had on the youth. Noticing the behaviour change of her prepubescent brother she wanted to document how he coped with the pandemic and presenting the crimpling mental damage it caused to the future generation. Her newest series (NAME) explores today’s fascination of social media personalities. Using self-portraiture Shannon embeds herself into this ever-growing obsession to explore and understand the moral value of being an influencer. Using props, clothing, and make-up Shannon created a whole new identity to help gain a deep personal understanding of the minds of influencers and how fame can comprehend their decisions. She created portraits that mimic and mock the millions of images seen daily on social media but also questioning why this behaviour is becoming normalised and idolised.