Conceptual nominee

My grandma was a strong, smart, and very funny woman. She was an amazing storyteller and loved to share her life stories. Throughout my childhood, she always encouraged me to be creative.
After she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's I watched this woman I looked up to fade away. At the same time, I watched my mom's life change as she became my grandma's caregiver.
This is a conceptual series about Alzheimer's and the ripple effects it creates in families. We spend our whole lives creating memories that shape who we are, but what happens when the memories are no longer there?

Lauren is a conceptual fine art photographer. She grew up in Illinois and was encouraged to be creative by her grandmother. After taking a film class in high school, Lauren fell in love with photography, and her passion for creating grew from there.

After obtaining her bachelor's degree from Illinois State University, she started a portrait business, but she felt like something was missing. Lauren had always been drawn to conceptual dark art and in 2016 she decided to create her first conceptual self-portrait. This ignited a new spark within her and she's been chasing it ever since.

Lauren creates dark dreamlike self-portraits. Through each image, she's finding her own identity and hopes to connect with others and inspire them to do the same.

Lauren has had 2 of her images selected to be book covers. She has been featured in Stubborn Magazine, ArtAscent Magazine and Dark Beauty Magazine's online gallery. She won first place in Turner Center for the Arts - Spring Into Art Exhibition.