Dora Somosi is a Hungarian-American lens-based artist whose practice centres on the natural world and alternative photographic processes. Working with cyanotype, hand-coated paper and embroidery thread dyed with foraged plants, she combines digital photography with tactile processes and traditions of handwork. Somosi's process relies on prolonged time spent in nature, and she regards the finished works as physical traces of that immersion.
In her ongoing series By Her Side, Somosi photographs trees that stood near the homes or studios of twenty-five pioneering women artists and thinkers whose practices were rooted in America and Europe and whose work has influenced her own. Among them are Emily Dickinson, Georgia O'Keeffe, Toni Morrison, Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woolf. The trees serve as witnesses to these women's lives, enabling Somosi to create portraits by proxy and trace their legacies. All these women shared a deep connection to the land and used their pioneering spirit to advance education and inquiry, as well as land conservation, preservation and appreciation. For Somosi, visiting the sites is a performative act that draws on photography's capacity to connect and memorialise: the women remain unseen, yet their connection to place endures. Back in the studio, Somosi translates the photographs into large-scale, hand-printed cyanotypes.
Somosi's most recent body of work, Mending, extends this tactile approach through acts of transformation and repair. Responding to irregularities produced by chemistry, light and water, Somosi stitches into cyanotypes rather than discarding them. Drawing on the principles of kintsugi and Hungarian women's handwork traditions, she uses embroidery and threads dyed with plant matter foraged from the locations she photographs.
Somosi's work has been exhibited at the International Center of Photography, Katonah Museum of Art, Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Bolinas Museum and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Her work is also held in the permanent collection of the Samek Art Museum. Somosi lives and works in Brooklyn and Upstate New York.
In her ongoing series By Her Side, Somosi photographs trees that stood near the homes or studios of twenty-five pioneering women artists and thinkers whose practices were rooted in America and Europe and whose work has influenced her own. Among them are Emily Dickinson, Georgia O'Keeffe, Toni Morrison, Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woolf. The trees serve as witnesses to these women's lives, enabling Somosi to create portraits by proxy and trace their legacies. All these women shared a deep connection to the land and used their pioneering spirit to advance education and inquiry, as well as land conservation, preservation and appreciation. For Somosi, visiting the sites is a performative act that draws on photography's capacity to connect and memorialise: the women remain unseen, yet their connection to place endures. Back in the studio, Somosi translates the photographs into large-scale, hand-printed cyanotypes.
Somosi's most recent body of work, Mending, extends this tactile approach through acts of transformation and repair. Responding to irregularities produced by chemistry, light and water, Somosi stitches into cyanotypes rather than discarding them. Drawing on the principles of kintsugi and Hungarian women's handwork traditions, she uses embroidery and threads dyed with plant matter foraged from the locations she photographs.
Somosi's work has been exhibited at the International Center of Photography, Katonah Museum of Art, Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Bolinas Museum and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Her work is also held in the permanent collection of the Samek Art Museum. Somosi lives and works in Brooklyn and Upstate New York.
Artworks
Articles
Media
Highlights
Recommendations
Collections
Shows
Market position
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Exhibitions (selection)
2026
AIPAD, New York, NY (US)
The Print Fair at Powerhouse Arts, Brooklyn, NY (US)
Samek Art Museum, Acquisition and Exhibition of By Her Side, Lewisburg, PA (US)
2025
Friends Seminary Auction, David Zwirner, New York, NY (US)
2024
The ADAA Art Show, New York, NY (US)
2023
Centre for Contemporary Printmaking Exhibition and Auction, Norwalk, CT (US)
2022
Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, CA (US)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA (US)
2021
Penumbra Foundation Winter Print Show, New York, NY (US)
2020
ICP Concerned, International Center of Photography, New York, NY (US)
Small Works Juried Exhibition, Main Street Arts, Clifton Springs, NY (US)
2016-2019
Solo show, The Color of Air, NeueHouse, Los Angeles, CA (US)
Solo show, Altered Landscapes, MAS, Brooklyn, NY (US)
BRIC Gala Show, Brooklyn, NY (US)
Material Cultures, BRIC Arts, Brooklyn, NY (US)
Residencies
-Moor Bees, Dartmoor National Park, Devon, UK, June 26–July 9, 2026
-Penland School of Craft, Asheville, NC, January 2026
-Oak Spring Garden Foundation, VA, Ancient, Venerable and Large Old Trees: Ecology and Conservation, October 2025
-Blackberry Farm Artist Commission, Tennessee, September 2025
-Visiting Artist Teacher, Collegiate School, April 2025
-Penland School of Craft, Asheville, NC, January–February 2024
-Gowanus Studio Space, Brooklyn, NY, October–December 2023
-Pocoapoco, Oaxaca, Mexico, April 2023
-Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk, CT, 2023
-Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA, July 2022
-Trillium Arts, Mars Hill, NC, May 2022
-Penumbra Foundation, New York, NY, 2021
Publications
-Musee Magazine, review of Alchemy of Memory, February 4, 2026
-Sun Valley Magazine, “Something Blue: The Art of Dora Somosi,” Winter 2026
-By Her Side, monograph, Brilliant Graphics
-Artwork Archive, interview, December 18, 2025
-Lenscratch / Fine Art Photography Daily, “Luminous Visions: Dora Somosi”
-Two Coats of Paint, exhibition review of Carrie Haddad Gallery exhibition
-Times Union, exhibition review of Carrie Haddad Gallery exhibition
-Dumbo Arts, feature on Paperwork exhibition
-The Atlantic, “Catastrophe is Next to Godliness”
-A Photo Editor, “Journey from Photography Director to Photographer”
-Cultured Magazine, feature on The Color of Air
-Condé Nast Traveler, review of The Color of Air
-LA Weekly, review of The Color of Air
2026
AIPAD, New York, NY (US)
The Print Fair at Powerhouse Arts, Brooklyn, NY (US)
Samek Art Museum, Acquisition and Exhibition of By Her Side, Lewisburg, PA (US)
2025
Friends Seminary Auction, David Zwirner, New York, NY (US)
2024
The ADAA Art Show, New York, NY (US)
2023
Centre for Contemporary Printmaking Exhibition and Auction, Norwalk, CT (US)
2022
Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, CA (US)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA (US)
2021
Penumbra Foundation Winter Print Show, New York, NY (US)
2020
ICP Concerned, International Center of Photography, New York, NY (US)
Small Works Juried Exhibition, Main Street Arts, Clifton Springs, NY (US)
2016-2019
Solo show, The Color of Air, NeueHouse, Los Angeles, CA (US)
Solo show, Altered Landscapes, MAS, Brooklyn, NY (US)
BRIC Gala Show, Brooklyn, NY (US)
Material Cultures, BRIC Arts, Brooklyn, NY (US)
Residencies
-Moor Bees, Dartmoor National Park, Devon, UK, June 26–July 9, 2026
-Penland School of Craft, Asheville, NC, January 2026
-Oak Spring Garden Foundation, VA, Ancient, Venerable and Large Old Trees: Ecology and Conservation, October 2025
-Blackberry Farm Artist Commission, Tennessee, September 2025
-Visiting Artist Teacher, Collegiate School, April 2025
-Penland School of Craft, Asheville, NC, January–February 2024
-Gowanus Studio Space, Brooklyn, NY, October–December 2023
-Pocoapoco, Oaxaca, Mexico, April 2023
-Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk, CT, 2023
-Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA, July 2022
-Trillium Arts, Mars Hill, NC, May 2022
-Penumbra Foundation, New York, NY, 2021
Publications
-Musee Magazine, review of Alchemy of Memory, February 4, 2026
-Sun Valley Magazine, “Something Blue: The Art of Dora Somosi,” Winter 2026
-By Her Side, monograph, Brilliant Graphics
-Artwork Archive, interview, December 18, 2025
-Lenscratch / Fine Art Photography Daily, “Luminous Visions: Dora Somosi”
-Two Coats of Paint, exhibition review of Carrie Haddad Gallery exhibition
-Times Union, exhibition review of Carrie Haddad Gallery exhibition
-Dumbo Arts, feature on Paperwork exhibition
-The Atlantic, “Catastrophe is Next to Godliness”
-A Photo Editor, “Journey from Photography Director to Photographer”
-Cultured Magazine, feature on The Color of Air
-Condé Nast Traveler, review of The Color of Air
-LA Weekly, review of The Color of Air
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