Dorothy O'Connor

Dorothy O'Connor is a photographer and installation artist, best known for her hand-crafted scenes that combine elements of still-life, portraiture, landscape, and performance.

Early life and education O'Connor was educated at Georgia State University and received a BA degree in English Literature, with a minor in Studio Art in 1996.

At age 30 she returned to school to train as a photographer at the Creative Circus in Atlanta. After graduation, she worked assisting commercial photographers and worked in various roles in the commercial realm.

Career While still working in commercial photography, O'Connor began to build life-sized, fantastical sets, or "scenes", in her garage that she would then photograph. Once the construction is completed, the "scenes" are captured with an 8×10 camera on film.

In 2008, O'Connor's work began to incorporate performance and the constructed installation scenes were open to the public to view in the style of a tableau vivant or "living picture".

In 2013, she was artist in residence at Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art in Nashville where she built and presented her installation, “Shelter.”

In 2019, thirteen of her photographs, created between 2006 and 2017, were exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia for the solo exhibition "Dorothy O'Connor: Scenes". Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art, to present her installations as public art.