Through subtle means, she responds to, and reflects upon current social and environmental issues. Whether engaging with the tasks demanded of farm animals or those of Sisters in a convent, or the waters of Lake Erie, with her large format camera, she offers reminders of the rewards in paying careful attention.
Lynn Whitney served as Associate Director, 2017–2020, Studio Division Chair, 2006–2017 and head of Photography from 1987–2020 in the School of Art at Bowling Green State University. With roots in New England, Lynn Whitney is, for over thirty years, a northwest Ohio based photographer whose photographs explore and examine the cultural landscape in which she finds herself. Through subtle means, she responds to, and reflects upon current social and environmental issues. Whether engaging with the tasks demanded of farm animals or those of Sisters in a convent, or the waters of Lake Erie, with her large format camera, she offers reminders of the rewards in paying careful attention.
Her photographic practice informed her teaching, generating enthusiasm for photographic history and photography’s power to create meaningful exchanges with the world. She received her BA in American Culture Studies from Boston University, her BFA in Photography from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and her MFA from Yale University School of Art. Among her awards, she received commissions from the Toledo Museum of Art and the George Gund Foundation in Cleveland, the Community Partner Award from the Wood County Board of Developmental Disabilities, and an Individual Artist Grant from the Ohio Arts Council. Her work is in the collections of The Toledo Museum of Art, the George Gund Foundation, Columbia College’s Midwest Photographer’s Project, The Cleveland Clinic, Ohio Humanities Council, Southeast Center for Photographic Studies, and Yale University.