Nicole White
About
Nicole White is an artist working predominantly with photography. Through specific narratives, she examines built environments to reveal material change across different timescales, highlighting the tenuous conditions that shape our existence.
White has exhibited most recently at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Massachusetts, Chung24 Gallery in San Francisco, and TILT Institute for the Contemporary Image in Philadelphia. Her work was published in recent issues of Der Grief and JRNL. In 2024, she was included in the +KGP publication, Of Covid and produced an artist book with National Monument Press, entitled Dream House. White’s collaborative 2021 publication, Rolls & Tubes: A History of Photography, is in the collections of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and the New Orleans Museum of Art, among others. She lives in the Bay Area where she is a Professor of Art at Diablo Valley College.
Scheduled to Teach
Gallery
LACP Interviews Nicole White
LACP asks Nicole White ten questions about their background, career in and beliefs about photography.
Los Angeles Center of Photography: What kind of photographer are you?
Nicole White: I use a camera to understand humanity through the things we build and what those things say about us. The questions I pose in my work generally dictate the cameras and processes I utilize.
LACP: How long have you been photographing?
NW: About 25 years or so.
LACP: Where did you get your training?
NW: The first time I used a darkroom was in high school for a graphic arts class. I made hall passes and suspension forms! I then picked up a camera and learned to process film. I was intrigued by the possibilities and decided to pursue it seriously in college.
I attended Massachusetts College of Art for BFA in Photography, the University of Connecticut for an MA in Art History (history of photography), and an MFA in Studio from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
LACP: When did you know you wanted to devote your life to photography?
NW: Pretty immediately once I started making pictures. The camera provided me a voice that was malleable and more satisfying than other art forms.
LACP: Did you ever come close to giving up?
NW: No. I like a challenge.
LACP: Have you sacrificed anything by being a photographer?
NW: Of course. I think anyone who pursues something for the love of it is destined to make some sacrifices, but I also don’t think they always feel like sacrifices.
LACP: What have you gained by being a photographer?
NW: The ability to maintain a sustained engagement with the world. The act of looking and really seeing things unfold around me, which I feel is a skill we are losing in our current moment.
LACP: What classes do you teach at LACP?
NW: I’ll be teaching my first class with LACP in 2027 with Morgain Bailey: Photography, Place, and Meaning: Creative Practice and Geography
LACP: What do you love most about teaching?
NW: Seeing a student cross a new threshold with their work and how those fresh insights give them momentum to push themselves further.
LACP: What advice would you give someone who is thinking about making a career in photography?
NW: No career in the arts follows a straight line. Be prepared to work incredibly hard and be serious about your goals.