Em White is a Richmond-based artist and educator, specializing in large format photography and handmade photographic processes. Raised in rural Virginia, much of her artwork emphasizes personal relationships to land, exploring how they impact identity and community.

While at Sable in 2019, Em experimented with using historic photography methods in an off-grid environment, developing images in a mobile darkroom she created in the back of her van. Many of the images she developed at Sable were lumen prints, an alternative process that utilizes sunlight and repurposed expired photographic paper! She also taught a lumen printing workshop to her fellow residents.

Since 2019, Em continues to use historic photographic methods to highlight contemporary natural landscapes. In 2025 she worked with the James River Park System to document & uplift a river system that she grew up alongside, and has a deep connection to.  In January & February 2026, she showed an exhibition entitled “A Separate Sun” at @a_wall_gallery in Richmond. This exhibition featured annotated cyanotype prints that document the vernal transition in the Virginia landscape.

Her artwork can also be found in the collections of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Library of Virginia, the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum, the Virginia Museum of History and Culture and the Candela Collection. 

She has taught at various universities and arts organizations throughout the years, and has most recently begun a position at George Washington University.

When not in the darkroom, she can be found walking along the James River with her three dogs. :)

To learn more about her work visit emwhitephoto.com