Dona Ann McAdams (born 1954)[1] is an American photographer known for her images of performance art, street activism, farm animals, and members of underrecognized communities, including backstretch workers at the Saratoga Race Course, Appalachian farmers, people living with severe mental illness on Coney Island, and cloistered nuns.[2][3] She makes black and white photographs with a Leica M2.[4]
McAdams' work has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times,[18]Artforum,[19]DoubleTake,[20] and Aperture.[21] McAdams' work features prominently in José Esteban Muñoz's Disidentifications (1999)[22]
Her book Black Box: A Photographic Memoir is an autobiography in two parts, one a retrospective of her photographic work, the other a series of prose memoirs.[9][23]
Teaching
She has taught and lectured at, among other places, Rutgers University, New York University, The International Center for Photography, The American Center in Barcelona, Spain,[24] and Hostos Community College in New York City. She has also taught photography in a wide range of "underserved communities across the US—from dairy farms in New England to mountain towns in Southern Appalachia—empowering people to take their own photographs and preserve their memories." [25] In 1998, McAdams helped create the photography program at The Point[26] in Hunts Point, South Bronx. She created and oversaw community darkrooms for the Williamsburg District Historical Foundation [27] in Williamsburg, West Virginia, for Hospital Audiences Inc.[28] in mental health facilities, homeless shelters, and senior homes throughout the New York City area, and at the Warren-Washington Association for Mental Health (now called ASCEND Mental Wellness[29]) in Glens Falls, New York (where she was awarded the Dorothea Dix Community Service Award). She ran a school photography program for youth for the Creative Time Forty Second Street Project[30] in New York. Through The Triage Project, she worked with a collective of artists, doctors, and medical professionals who used photography to illustrate problems with health care in New York City.
The Sendak Fellowship
In 2009, Maurice Sendak enlisted the help of Dona Ann McAdams as well as his longtime assistant, Lynn Caponera, to help realize his vision of a residency for illustrators, and in 2010, The Sendak Fellowship[31] was founded. Dona Ann McAdams was its director until 2017. In 2018, The Sendak Fellowship received an Angel award[32] from the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.
Personal life
McAdams has collaborated with and is married to Brad Kessler. They live on a goat farm in Vermont.[33]
The Woodcutter's Christmas: A Classic Holiday Fable. Galpón, 2025.
Exhibition catalogues
The Garden of Eden. Robert B. Menschel Photography Gallery at Syracuse University, 1997. About people living with schizophrenia.
Some Women. Opalka Gallery of The Sage Colleges, 2009. Catalogue for a 35-year survey of her work.
A View from the Backstretch. National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, 2011. In conjunction with an exhibition of her photography workshops with backstretch workers at the Saratoga Racetrack.
Dona Ann McAdams: Performative Acts. Brattleboro Museum & Art Center.[34] In conjunction with a retrospective exhibition, curated by John Killacky, that toured to five Vermont venues, 2019–2021.
Artists' books
The Nuclear Survival Kit
Alphabet City
The Barbie Book
Olympic City
Publications with contributions by McAdams
Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics (1999) by José Esteban Muñoz
The Body in the O (2019) by Tim Miller
We Are Everywhere (2019) by Matthew Riemer and Leighton Brown
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