New Mexico based artist photographer Frances Seward was born and raised in the UK. She graduated with a BA in modern languages and international business and has worked in numerous organisations including several years in publishing. After working and travelling abroad for an extensive period of time she discovered her passion, photography. In order to explore this newly discovered endeavour she moved to the States, a move that turned out to be transformative. Drawn to the light and land of New Mexico, she has developed a unique style of art photography by painting with light and glass. She creates evocative imagery inspired by spacial environments that allude to landscapes, seascapes, desertscapes that are familiar yet unknowable. After a lull away from her creations raising a family, more recently, she has delved into the non-representational by incorporating newly discovered techniques for her abstractions to manifest. Frances' work has been exhibited at Borges Cultural Center, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Kingston Gallery, Boston, MA; A.Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX; Still Point Gallery, CT; Showhouse Santa Fe; Photo Arts Santa Fe; Axle Contemporary, Santa Fe; Stuart L. Udall Museum, Santa Fe, NM; amongst others. She has received awards with the International Photography Awards (IPA) and the Julia Margaret Cameron Awards. Her art photography has appeared on the BBC, and has been licensed as cover art for biographies and poetry books as well as CD covers including Christopher Gordon who was the music composer for Master and Commander and Ben Monder a guitarist on David Bowie’s last album BlackStar. Frances partners with many interior designers and art consulting firms to provide her art for their clients. In 2023, her work was licensed by the Royal Opera House in London, UK and is in many national and international private and corporate collections. Photo Credit: © Daniel Barsotti Photography
Statement
I am interested in the transformative possibilities of photographing the interactions of light with glass, embracing the fluidity and versatility of this amorphous solid. Glass as a medium that refracts and reflects light acts as a portal that turns the invisible into shape unavailable to the naked eye. With a unique approach to photography and photo arts media, I aim to challenge the viewer's perception of photography and push the boundaries of the medium where the process, at times, thins the border between the visual and other sensory modalities. My creative process always starts with a self-made photograph of light or a combination of several photos that I transmute into something completely new. I appreciate the element of chance and intuition and prefer not to have preconceived ideas about the final product where my mind is free to roam, immersed in my creative space.
Frances Seward 2025