Hi, I’m Amanda Shopa

I am a film photographer. I make black-and-white images of unassuming details found in daily life: the dented metal sign that’s been stickered over, the dying coneflower found in a ditch, the negative space created by winter’s branches. Tight composition and a shallow-depth of field bring focus to the subject. Using decades-old equipment and techniques, I print the photos in my home darkroom. Watching a print come alive in Dektol feels like alchemy every single time.

I am also a fiber artist. I use a high-whorl drop spindle to turn wool, silk, and other fibers into hand-spun yarn. Spinning this way connects me to women of the past, who were tasked with clothing themselves and others through spinning, weaving, and knitting. 

These artistic practices are slow. And that’s the point. Doing slow, human work by hand is a way to remember the past, live in the present, and create instead of consume.

Artist Bio

Amanda Shopa is a self-taught Minnesota-based black-and-white film photographer and fiber artist. Shopa’s artwork has been exhibited at the Textile Center of Minnesota, the Rumriver Art Center, and LenScratch. One of her photo postcards will be published in The Rebel Loon Archive: Art Against Operation Metro Surge (forthcoming).