NANCY WITHERELL

(FORMERLY NANCY BELLEN)

My work is about what brings us together. That's what I keep returning to, and what feels most true.

Photography is central to that. When I'm working on an image, I allow something to emerge. I wait for the moment. I let my subject show up. There's a kind of conversation that opens in that space, and when it does, something real and lovely arrives.

This way of working began when I was a parent, watching and waiting for the moment to photograph my child. It deepened through practices like Aikido, where you learn that timing and presence matter more than any preconceived form — where the right moment arrives, and you meet it.

This website marks my return to fine art photography after a 16-year hiatus.

I have chosen to bring forward only the bodies of work that speak to the thread I am picking up and continuing now. I am also introducing two new bodies of work: Stealing from Thiebaud and What We Hold Dear.