Sara J. Winston is an artist based in New York. She works with photographs, text, and the book form to describe and respond to chronic illness and its ongoing impact on her body, mind, family, and memory. Sara is the author of several photobooks, among them Foibles & Avoidance (National Monument Press, 2024), Shades (Push Pull Editions, 2023), A Lick and a Promise (Candor Arts, 2017) and Homesick (Zatara Press, 2015).
Sara is an Artist in Residence and Photography Program Coordinator at Bard College; on the faculty and 2025 Acting Chair of the Penumbra Foundation Long Term Photobook Program; a contributor to Lenscratch and the Photo Eye Blog where she writes about photobooks; and a member of Storm King Art Center‘s Accessibility Advisory Group.
On June 29, 2023, her long-term project about multiple sclerosis care, Our body is a clock, was adapted and published as an op-ed in the New York Times, titled ‘My body is a clock’: The Private Life of Chronic Care.
Contact
sarajwinston@gmail.com
Instagram @sarajwinston
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Education
2014 M.F.A. Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL
2011 B.F.A. Corcoran College of Art and Design, Washington, DC
Books
2025 Sugar Honey Iced Tea, For the Birds Trapped in Airports, Los Angeles, CA (forthcoming)
2024 Foibles & Avoidance, National Monument Press, Oakland, CA
2024 Dodeca Meters: Good Weather, National Monument Press, Oakland, CA
2023 Shades, collaboration with Aaron Canipe and Nat Ward, Push Pull Editions, Corvallis, OR
2017 A Lick and a Promise, Candor Arts, Chicago, IL
2015 Homesick, Zatara Press, Richmond, VA
2014 Flowers for Ruth, self-published, Detroit, MI
2011 Worn Out Joy, self-published, Washington, DC
Solo Exhibitions
2025 Sugar Honey Iced Tea, Candela Gallery, Richmond, VA (upcoming; March 2025)
2025 Our body is a clock: The Untold Time, Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR (upcoming; May 2025)
Group Exhibitions
2024
On the Shelf, curated by Clint Woodside, Filter Space, Chicago, IL
Press Print: Risograph Photobooks, curated by Camilo Otero and Leandro Villaro, Penumbra Foundation, New York, NY
Unbound 13! Candela Gallery, Richmond, VA
In the Shadow of the Moon, The Windgate Museum of Art at Hendrix College, Conway, AK
25 Barbarossa Studios, Monument Gallery, Kingston, NY
2021
27 Seconds, curated by Jenia Fridlyand, Penumbra Foundation, New York, NY
Fade / Fail / Flow, Oranbeg Press, Brooklyn, NY
Context 2021, Filter Photo, Chicago, IL
The Print Center’s 95th Annual, Philadelphia, PA
2020
Women We Have Known, PDNB Gallery, Dallas, TX
17th Annual Joyce Elaine Grant Exhibition, Denton, TX
The Qualities of Light, Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ
2019
Photos Need Friends, Pal Gallery, Provo, UT
Photography: Mentorship and Legacy, Red Eye Gallery, RISD, Providence, RI
The Familiar, Filter Photo, Chicago, IL
Self and Family, The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO
UnBound8!, Candela Gallery, Richmond, VA
Woodstock Squared, Center for Photography at Woodstock, Woodstock, NY
Daddy’s Books Reading Room, Drury Gallery, Marlboro College, Marlboro, VT
2018
Interlude/Inquiry, Abroms-Engel Institute for Visual Arts, University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL
and light followed the flight of sound, Candela Gallery, Richmond, VA
Tipping Points, Palmer Gallery, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
Life, learning, and healing: Candor Arts exhibition, Milner Library, Illinois State University, Normal, IL
Daddy's Books, Life Lessons, Far Rockaway, NY
The Feeling is Mutual, Local Project, Long Island City, NY
UnBound7!, Candela Gallery, Richmond, VA
Companion Pieces, Anytime Dept., Cincinnati, OH
Silver Eye's Biannual Auction Exhibition, Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburgh, PA
Z. Archive Exhibition, Claire T. Carney Library, UMass Darmouth, North Dartmouth, MA
2016
No Texting, Mt. Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA
On the Shelf, curated by Kelli Connell, Filter Space, Chicago, IL
Picture Perfect: Contrarian Voices in Photography, Durango Art Center, Durango, CO
You Can't Take it With You, Commonwealth Gallery, Madison, WI
Worn Out Joy / A Lick and a Promise with Ani Katz, Milkweed Gallery, Sugar Loaf, NY
2014
Petty Thieves 5, Hell & Gone Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Perfect Wasn't Bad Part II, Hell & Gone Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Thesis, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL
Albert P. Weisman Exhibition, Arcade Gallery, Chicago, IL
MFA Thesis, Glass Curtain Gallery, Chicago, IL
2013
Petty Thieves 3, Furthermore, Washington, DC
13th Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China
Hair Apparent, Athenaeum, Alexandria, VA
2011
On the Lakeshore…And Other Stories, Goethe Institut, Washington, DC
NEXT at the Corcoran, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Petty Thieves, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Gallery 31, Washington, DC
2010
Civilian Editions, Civilian Art Projects, Washington, DC
Portray, Addison-Ripley Fine Art, Washington, DC
Print Anthologies as Photographer
2021 Return to the Field, edited by Gabriel Kruis and Martha Tuttle, Wendy’s Subway, Brooklyn, NY
2021 A New Nothing No. 1: Edited by John Pilson, Sleeper Studio, Durham, NC
2019 It’s a toss up, Oranbeg Press, Brooklyn, NY
2019 Maternal Journal #2, Artist Mother Studio, Washington, DC
2019 A Matter of Being, Quiet Pages Press, Bethlehem, PA
2018 And Light Followed the Flight of Sound, One Day Projects, Williamsburg, VA
2018 As of Late: Sara J. Winston, Oranbeg Press, Brooklyn, NY
2017 Moments That Stay, Oranbeg Press, Brooklyn, NY
2014 Petty Thieves 5, Empty Stretch, Washington, DC
2014 Beta, Oranbeg Press, Brooklyn, NY
2014 Interleaves, Oranbeg Press, Brooklyn, NY
2013 (Re)presentation, Anamesa Journal, New York University, New York, NY
2012 Twenty/12, Empty Stretch, Washington, DC
Print Anthologies as Writer
2021 Return to the Field, edited by Gabriel Kruis and Martha Tuttle, Wendy’s Subway, Brooklyn, NY
2019 A Lick and a Promise, FLDQ, Chicago, IL
2018 Five Poems on Porosity, The Dandelion Review: Issue 3, Fort Wayne, IN
2017 Illness: A Subjective Genealogy, Papersafe Issue #09: Other Eden, Boston, MA
Print Collections
Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
The Jewish Museum, New York, NY
Select Press, Interviews, and Online Features
2023 ‘My Body is a Clock’: The Private Life of Chronic Care, The New York Times
2023 Photographer Sara J. Winston to Speak as Part of Communitas Series at Caine College of the Arts, USU Today
2021 Focus on Self-Portraiture: Sara J. Winston by Jennifer McClure, Lenscratch
2017 Holding the Unknown with Care: Interview with Sara J. Winston by Lynnette Miranda, This Is Tomorrow
2015 Homesick: Book Review by Karen Jenkins, photo-eye
2015 Best Books of 2015: John Gossage, photo-eye
Awards / Honors
2024 Puffin Foundation Grant, Puffin Foundation, Teaneck, NJ
2023 The Silver List, Honoree, Silver Eye Center for Photography and Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
2021 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2022, Semi-finalist, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC
2020 The Print Center’s 95th Annual Competition, Semi-finalist, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA
2018 Dorothea Lange–Paul Taylor Prize, Semi-finalist, Duke University, Durham, NC
2014 Anderson Ranch Art Center Fellowship, Snowmass Village, CO
2014 Albert P. Weisman Award, Project Grant, Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL
2013 John Mulvany Scholarship, Project Completion Grant, Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL
2011 Follett Merit Award, Full Tuition Grant, Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL
Residencies
2023 Interlude Artist Residency, Hudson, NY (October)
2023 In Cahoots, Petaluma, CA (July)
2022 ACRE Projects, Steuben, Wisconsin (August)
2017 Summer Forum for Inquiry + Exchange: Persevering in One’s Existence, Kaneohe, HI (July)
Commissions
2024 Mothering alongside MS, Momentum Magazine (National MS Society’s print magazine)
2023 ‘My Body is a Clock’: The Private Life of Chronic Care, The New York Times (in print and online)
2019 These Activists are Training Every Movement that Matters, VICE Media (in print and online)
2018 I Lived Like it was the 1600s to Understand the Meaning of Thanksgiving, VICE Media (online)
Artist Talks / Panels
2024 Mesaros Visiting Artist, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH
2023 Storm King Art Center, New Windsor, NY
2023 NIAD Art Center, Richmond, CA
2023 Communitas Visiting Artist-in-Residence, University of Utah, Logan, UT
2022 Meet the Artist, Center for Photography Woodstock, Kingston, NY
2022 University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN
2021 In Conversation: Sara J. Winston and Terri Weifenbach, Penumbra Foundation, New York, NY
2021 The Photobook: From Start to Finish, Penumbra Foundation, New York, NY
2021 Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL
2021 School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
2020 Marble Hill Camera Club of New York, online
2018 LES Fotobook Fair, Foley Gallery, New York, NY
2017 Silver Eye Book Fair, Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburgh, PA
2017 Filter Photo Festival, Knickerbocker Hotel, Chicago, IL
2015 Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL
2015 Photographs in Books: The Complete Story, Aperture Foundation,
conversation with John Gossage and Terri Weifenbach, New York, NY
2014 Thesis Panel, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL
2013 13th Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China
2013 Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL
Teaching
Acting Chair, Penumbra Foundation / Image Threads Long Term Program (2025)
Artist-in-Residence, Bard College; Photography Senior Seminar (2024-2025)
Faculty, Penumbra Foundation / Image Threads Long Term Program (2022-2024)
Adjunct Faculty, Syracuse Department of Film and Media Arts; Graduate Seminar I (2023)