Sam Penn (born 1998) is an American photographer and a visual artist based in New York City. [1] [2] Her work, which moves between diaristic portraiture and documentary-style studies of intimacy, has been shown in solo and group exhibitions in New York, such as New York Life Gallery and OCDChinatown, and in Paris at Balice Hertling. [3] [4] Penn is represented by Cadence Image and currently serves as the tour photographer and documentarian for Lorde during her 2025 world tour. [5] [6] Her work has appeared in Cultured , Document Journal , Artforum , among others. [7]
Penn was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1998, and grew up in Philadelphia, PA. At a young age she started photographing her younger siblings on disposable Kodak cameras and grew from there.
Penn first gained attention through Some Girls (2023), a limited edition photobook from Ethan James Green's New York Life Gallery capturing close friends and lovers in moments of repose, tenderness, and explicit confrontation. [8] [9] The book was released alongside her inclusion in a group show, titled It's Personal with artists Ser Serpas and Nash Glynn. Inspiration for the title of the show came from both The Radio Dept.'s song, "It's Personal," as well as Lana del Rey's promotion of a new single on a billboard located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Lana del Rey's former boyfriend resides. The singer shared an image of the billboard on Instagram, commenting beneath the post, “It’s personal."
Her debut solo exhibition, Bad Behavior, named after the Mary Gaitskill novel, opened at Galerie Balice Hertling in Paris in 2024, presenting large-format prints that collapse distinctions between landscape, body, and psychological space. [10] Photographs from this show included locations like the Lower East Side, Fire Island, and upstate New York. [11]
Penn's work has been show in exhibitions at James Fuentes, OCDChinatown, and New York Life Gallery. Of Penn, the art critic and American songwriter, Johanna Fateman, wrote in The New Yorker , "A row of photographs by Sam Penn offers a window onto a glam coterie in the tradition of Nan Goldin." [12]
In 2025 she was profiled by Dazed , Cultured, and Another Magazine. [13] [14] [15]
Penn joined Lorde’s U.S. and European tour as the official photographer for the Virgin album cycle. [16] [17] [18] [19]
Penn’s photography and artistic practice is known for its raw and instinctive visuals, balancing staged private moments with documentary realism. Her subjects include the actress Hari Nef, artists Martine Guiterrez and Ser Serpas, musician Aaron Maine (Porches), DJ Sauscha, producer Cloe Young, set designer Marcs Bird, and writers like Sarah Nicole Prickett, Thora Siemsen, and Max Battle. The artist draws from her own social circle, and her imagery blurs the line between affection and observation. [20] Critics have noted her preoccupation with female friendship as exemplified by texts included in exhibitions by the author and therapist, hannah baer, and writer and editor David Velasco, who've detailed the emotional and physical architectures of vulnerability and adulthood. [21] [22]
Solo exhibitions
Selected group exhibitions