Exploring the intersection of the built and natural world

Annette LeMay Burke at the Brand Gallery

Artist Biography

Annette LeMay Burke is an award-winning photographic artist and Northern California native who resides in the innovative hub of Silicon Valley. With a background in geology from the University of California, Berkeley, Burke's lens has long been finely attuned to the ever-evolving contours of the western landscape. Formerly immersed in a career in high-tech, Burke now channels her passion into her artistic practice, often exploring the presence of technology as both a disruptor and unifier within the landscape, echoing the complexities of the modern human experience.

Burke's series, Memory Building, was selected for LensCulture Critics' Choice 2024. She received the Best In Show award in Colorado Photographic Arts Center’s 2024 Annual Members’ Show. In 2023, Burke was a finalist for the UK’s Earth Photo competition and exhibited at London's Royal Geographical Society and multiple Forestry England sites; she was named the International Runner-Up for the Australian Geographic Environmental Award at the Head On Photo Festival and exhibited along the Bondi Beach Promenade in Sydney; and she was a finalist in the Hellerau Portrait Photography Award in Dresden, Germany. Her work was selected as a winner of Photolucida’s 2022 Critical Mass Top 50 and LensCulture Critics' Choice 22. In 2021, she was awarded first place in the Lenscratch Vernacular Photography Exhibition, won the Imago Lisboa Photography Festival in Portugal, and was a semi-finalist for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery’s The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today in Washington DC.

Burke’s work is exhibited widely throughout the US and internationally at institutions such as Center for Photographic Art in Carmel, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Candela Gallery in Virginia, Griffin Museum of Photography in Massachusetts, Los Angeles Center for Photography, Oceanside Museum of Art in California, Museum of Nature in Cantabria, Spain, and Association of Photographers in London.

Her images have been featured in The New York Times, L.A. Times, The Times (London), Hyperallergic, Sierra Club Magazine, Newsweek Japan, Elle Decor Italy, Fraction, All About Photo, KATALOG, Dezeen, EXIT Image and Culture, Dodho Magazine, The Riv Magazine and the Daily Mail. Her work is held in public and private collections including the Wieland Collection in Atlanta and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Her book is included in over 45 libraries worldwide.

Burke’s monograph, Fauxliage: Disguised Cell Phone Towers of the American West, was published by Daylight Books in 2021. Ann M. Jastrab, Executive Director of the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel, California, contributed the forward.

Burke is one of ten female photographers who created the traveling exhibition Memory is a Verb: Exploring Time and Transience. Represented in this body of work are the universal concepts of loss, mortality, and legacy, and the exploration of what inspires us to seek solace and reexamine our histories. The exhibition was shown in four US galleries and museums in 2023 and continues to tour. She is also a founding member of Maverick Photographers, a collective of diverse photographers working in the San Francisco Bay Area.


Artist Statement

My photographic practice is an exploration of my deep-rooted connection to the western landscape. I seek out moments where the natural and built worlds intersect, uncovering metaphorical narratives embedded into the terrain. I make images that not only capture the tangible signs of environmental change but also the ephemeral imprints left by the passage of time. Drawing inspiration from my personal experiences and honed observations of the land, I reveal layers of meaning and encourage viewers to reflect on their own memories and connections to place.

Contact: annette@atelierlemay.com

Curriculum Vitae

Download CV


AWARDS and RECOGNITION
2024
  • Critics’ Choice – Critics' Choice 2024, LensCulture
  • Best in Show – 2024 Annual Members’ Show, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, CO
2023
  • International Runner-up – Australian Geographic Head On Environmental Award, Head On Photo Festival, Sydney, Australia
  • Shortlist – Earth Photo, The Royal Geographical Society and Forestry England, London, UK
  • Finalist – Portraits 2023, Hellerau Photography Award, Dresden, Germany
  • 3rd Place - Joyce Elaine Grant Exhibition and Endowment, Texas Woman’s University, Denton, TX
  • 2nd Place – Greater Bay Area Open: Potentiality / Actuality, New Museum, Los Gatos, CA
2022
  • Winner - Critical Mass Top 50, Photolucida - for Memory Building
  • 2nd Place - 2nd Annual Project Exhibition, Los Angeles Center of Photography, Los Angeles, CA
  • Semi-finalist - The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC - for Snuggies, Remote and Buck
  • Critics’ Choice – Critics' Choice 22, LensCulture
  • Winner – Architecture Photography MasterPrize – Other Exterior Category, Architecture MasterPrize, Los Angeles, CA
  • Catalogue Prize – 2021 Passepartout Prize, Rome, Italy
  • Highly Commended - Belfast Photo Festival 2022, Belfast, Northern Ireland
2021
  • Juror’s Award – Portals, A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX
  • Winner – Childhood: Past, Present & Future, L.A. Photo Curator
  • Winner – The Family in Transition, Imago Lisboa Photo Festival 2021, Lisbon, Portugal
  • Director’s Choice – 2021 Annual Members’ Show, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver CO
  • 1st Place –Vernacular Photograph Exhibition, Lenscratch, Online
  • 3rd Place – SALON (Photography), Triton Museum, Santa Clara, CA
  • 3rd Place - 16th Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers, People Series, Barcelona, Spain
  • 3rd Place - 16th Pollux Award, People Series, Barcelona, Spain
  • Honorable Mention - 16th Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers, Open Theme Series, Barcelona, Spain
  • Honorable Mentions - 16th Pollux Award, Open Theme Series & Fine Art Series, Barcelona, Spain
  • Highly Commended - Belfast Photo Festival 2021, Belfast, Northern Ireland
2020
  • Finalist – AOP Awards, Open Category - Series, Association of Photographers, London, UK
  • Bronze Portfolio Winner – 2020 Tokyo International Foto Awards, TIFA, Japan
  • Honorable Mention – 15th Pollux Awards, Non-Professional Open Series, The Worldwide Photography Gala Awards, Barcelona, Spain
  • Jurored Participant - Review Santa Fe 2020, CENTER, Santa Fe, NM
2018
  • Honorable Mention - Landscapes 2018, The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO
2017
  • Finalist - Critical Mass Top 200, Photolucida
  • Jurored Participant - Review Santa Fe 2017, CENTER, Santa Fe, NM
  • Jurored Participant - Our World Portfolio Review, PhotoAlliance, San Francisco, CA

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
  • Krause Center for Innovation Gallery, Los Altos, CA – Fauxliage

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026
  • The Danforth Museum, Framingham, MA – Memory is a Verb
2025
  • The Art Center Highland Park, Highland Park, IL - Memory is a Verb
  • The Curated Fridge, Somerville, MA – Leftovers, Winter 2025 (Yorgos Efthymiadis)
  • Harvey Milk Photo Center, San Francisco, CA
2024
  • LensCulture, Online – Critics’ Choice 2024 (Megan Wright)
  • Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA – 2024 International Juried Exhibition (Elizabeth Avedon)
  • International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum, Online – Behind the Veil (Elizabeth Opalenik)
  • Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park and Museum, Hamilton, OH – FotoFocus: Stories of the Land
  • Candela Books + Gallery, Richmond, VA – UnBound13! - The Curated Fridge (Dominique Muñoz)
  • New Museum, Los Gatos, CA – 4th Annual genARTS Experimental Exhibition: Boundaries (Margaret Luo, Allison Railo, Pamela Walsh)
  • Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, CO – 2024 Annual Members' Show (Best in Show) (Brent Lewis)
  • Triton Museum, Santa Clara, CA – Salon at the Triton: A 2D Art Competition and Exhibition (Aly Gould)
  • Art Ark Gallery, San Jose, CA – Maverick Photographers
  • 1202 Contemporary Gallery, Gilroy, CA – Roots: Where We Came From, Where We Are
2023
  • Head On Photo Festival 2023, Sydney, Australia – Australian Geographic Environmental Award Int’l Runner-up (Fauxliage - Airport Approach), Open Exhibitor (Fauxliage series), Portrait Semi-finalist
  • Forestry England and The Royal Geographical Society, Multiple locations, UK – Earth Photo (2 images)
  • Museum of Nature of Cantabria, Cantabria, Spain – Art in Nature III - The Instant of Creation (Marisa Caichiolo)
  • Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA – 2023 International Juried Exhibition (Shana Lopes)
  • New Museum, Los Gatos, CA – Greater Bay Area Open: Potentiality / Actuality (2nd Place Photography)
  • The Photo Review, Langhorne, PA – Online Gallery (Stephen Perloff)
  • Art Works Downtown, San Rafael, CA – Landscapes Perspectives (Kim Eagles-Smith)
  • Arts Benicia, Benicia, CA – Reimagining History (4 images) (Sandow Birk)
  • Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA – Imminent Existence, Critical Mass Top 50 Exhibition (Arnika Dawkins)
  • Hellerau Photography Award, Dresden, Germany – Portraits 2023 (Theme: Surface) (Memory Building Series)
  • Texas Woman’s University, Denton, TX – Joyce Elaine Grant Exhibition and Endowment (3rd Place) (3 images) (Shana Lopes)
  • Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside, CA – Memory is a Verb: Exploring Time and Transience (Jan-May) (Marisa Caichiolo)
  • Dallas Center of Photography, Dallas, TX – Memory is a Verb: Exploring Time and Transience (April-May) (Emily Edwards)
  • Bonsack Gallery, St. Louis, MO – Memory is a Verb: Exploring Time and Transience (Aug-Oct) (Molly Moog)
  • Brand Gallery, Glendale, CA – Memory is a Verb: Exploring Time and Transience (Dec-Feb) (Rotem Rozental)
2022
  • Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta, GA – APG Airport 2022 (2 images) (Lisa Volpe)
  • Los Angeles Center of Photography, Los Angeles, CA – 2nd Annual Project Exhibition (6 images) (Ann Jastrab)
  • Blue Line Arts, Roseville, CA - Crocker-Kingsley (Emma Saperstein)
  • PhotoPlace Gallery, Middlebury, VT – Portraits: Self and Others (Aline Smithson)
  • Loosen Art, Rome, Italy – Progress: On Contemporary and Future Society (3 images)
  • Davis Orton Gallery, Hudson, NY – Memory and Dreams (12 images) (Karen Davis)
  • LensCulture, Online – Critics’ Choice 22 (Dimitri Beck)
  • Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA – 14th Annual 50|50 Show (Julie McCray)
  • Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA – 28th Annual Juried Exhibition Show (Frances Jakubek & Iaritza Menjivar)
  • Atlanta Photography Group, Atlanta, GA – Portfolio 2022 (6 images) (Karen E. Haas)
  • All About Photo, Online – All About Photo Awards 2022 (Ian Berry, Paula Tognarelli, Ann Jastrab, Manfred Baumann, Tom Price, Guiseppe Oliverio, Sandrine Hermand-Grisel)
  • Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA – 2022 Members’ Juried Exhibition (Crista Dix)
  • Frederic C Hamilton Fine Art Gallery, Aurora, CO – Luminaries (5 images) (Jasmine Chu)
2021
  • SE Center for Photography, Greenville, SC – Contemporary Portrait (Michael Foley)
  • Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA – 2021 International Juried Exhibition (Debra Klomp Ching and Darren Ching)
  • Los Angeles Center of Photography, Los Angeles, CA – The Creative Portrait (Aline Smithson)
  • A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX – Portals (Juror’s Award) (Elizabeth Avedon)
  • FotoNostrum Gallery, Barcelona, Spain – 15th Pollux Award, 16th Pollux Award, 16th Julia Margaret Cameron Award (6 images)
  • All About Photo, Online – Shapes (Sandrine Hermand-Grisel)
  • Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO – In Conversation with the Land (Karen Haas)
  • Lenscratch, Online – Vernacular Photograph Exhibition, June 12, 2021 (1st Place) (Greg Sand)
  • Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA – Time Capsule Juried Exhibition (2 images) (Shamim M. Momin)
  • Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA – 27th Annual Juried Exhibition Show (Paula Tognarelli)
  • Candela Gallery, Richmond, VA – Unbound 10!
  • Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, CO – 2021 Annual Members' Show (Director’s Choice) (Aline Smithson)
  • Marin Society of Artists, San Rafael, CA – Exposed 2021 (Linda Connor and Michael Creedon)
  • Triton Museum, Santa Clara, CA – SALON (Jeff Bramschreiber, Elke Groves, Francisco Pancho Jiménez)
  • Imago Lisboa Photo Festival 2021, Lisbon, Portugal – The Family in Transition (10 images)
  • Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA – 2021 Members’ Juried Exhibition (Susan Burnstine)
  • Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA – 2021 Left Coast Annual Juried Exhibition (2 images) (Christine Koppes)
  • Site: Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY – Photography A Sense of Place (2 images) (Jacqui Palumbo)
  • Tokyo International Foto Awards, Japan – 2020 TIFA Bronze Portfolio Winner
  • SE Center for Photography, Greenville, SC - Memory (Fran Forman)
  • L.A. Photo Curator, Childhood: Past, Present & Future, May 2021 (Laurie Freitag)
  • Association of Photographers, London, UK – 2020 AOP Open Award, Series (Finalist) (4 images) (Anne Manion and Tim Flach) *Exhibition at One Canada Square Lobby, Canary Wharf cancelled due to COVID-19*
  • SE Center for Photography, Greenville, SC - SE Center Open (Doug Beasley)
  • Midwest Center for Photography, Wichita, KS – Developed Work – International Photography Fellowship
2020
  • L.A. Photo Curator/N.Y. Photo Curator, 2020 Top 40 Images Submitted (Laurie Freitag)
  • Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA – 2020 International Juried Exhibition(online) (Aline Smithson)
  • Texas Photographic Society, Houston, TX – TPS 29: The International Competition (Elizabeth Avedon)
  • Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA – 26th Annual Juried Exhibition Show (Alexa Dilworth)
  • Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, CO – Annual Members' Show (Ann Jastrab)
  • South x Southeast Gallery, Molena, GA – The Road (Rich McCabe)
  • SE Center for Photography, Greenville, SC – The Contemporary Landscape (Adam Monohon)
  • Academy Art Museum, Easton, MD – New Photography II (2 images) (Philip Brookman)
  • Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA – 2020 Members’ Juried Exhibition (Ann Jastrab and Laura Sackett)
  • Praxis Photo Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN – Open Theme (Ann Jastrab)
  • Dickerman Prints Gallery, San Francisco, CA – The Best Medicine (2 images) (Ann Jastrab, Stuart Kogod, Seth Dickerman)
  • JKC Gallery, Trenton, NJ – The Road (Dana Stirling and Yoav Friedlander)
  • The Curated Fridge, Boston, MA and Aline Smithson's Kitchen in L.A. – The Ones That Got Away (Yorgos Efthymiadis)
2019
  • Texas Photographic Society, Houston, TX – Urban Landscape (Jamie Stillings)
  • ACCI Gallery, Berkeley, CA – San Francisco Bay International Photography Exhibition (Elizabeth Avedon, Julie Grahame, Ann Jastrab, David Garnick)
  • Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, CO – Annual Members' Show (Kat Kiernan)
  • Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA – 25th Annual Juried Exhibition Show (online) (Julie Grahame and Paula Tognarelli)
  • Texas Photographic Society, Houston, TX – TPS 28: The International Competition (Arthur Meyerson)
  • Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA – PCNW 22nd Juried Photography Exhibition (Conor Risch and Lara Behnert)
2018
  • Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA – 2018 International Juried Exhibition (Eve Schillo)
  • The Curated Fridge, Cambridge, MA – Autumn Show (Kat Kiernan)
  • LightBox Photographic Gallery, Astoria, OR – The Portfolios (4 images) (Michael and Chelsea Granger)
  • Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, CO – Lies (4 images) (Richard McCabe)
  • The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO – Landscapes 2018 (2 images), Honorable Mention, (Allie Haeusslein)
  • fotofoto gallery, Huntington, NY – 13th Annual National Photography Competition (2 images) (Ann Jastrab)
2017
  • Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA – 2017 International Juried Exhibition (Philip Brookman)
  • Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, CO – Americana (2 images) (Darren Ching)
  • Barrett Art Center, Poughkeepsie, NY – New Directions 2017 (2 images) (Ruth Erickson)
  • TAG Gallery, Los Angeles, CA – 2017 California Open Exhibition (Scott Canty)
  • Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA – 2017 Members' Juried Exhibition (Elizabeth Corden and Jan Potts)
2014
  • RayKo Photo Center, San Francisco, CA – The Perimeter of the World, Contemporary Travel Photography (Ann Jastrab and Judy Walgren)
  • The Kiernan Gallery, Lexington, VA – Mainland (Stella Kramer)
  • Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA – 2014 Juried Exhibition (2 images) (Diana L. Daniels)
  • Darkroom Gallery, Essex Junction, VT – Five Elements (Eddie Soloway)
  • Black Box Gallery, Portland, OR – New Color Photography (Kelli Pennington)
2013
  • Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA – 2013 Statewide Photography Competition/Exhibition (Preston Metcalf)
2010
  • Graniterock Design Center, Cupertino, CA – Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy, Back to School
  • Palo Alto Research Center, Palo Alto, CA – Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy, Back to School
2009
  • Donkey Mill Art Center, Holualoa, HI – Landscapes and Portraits of the Islands
  • Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy, San Francisco, CA – Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy, Back to School

BOOKS
2021
  • Fauxliage: Disguised Cell Phone Towers of the American West, Daylight Books

PUBLICATIONS AND PRESS
2024
  • Il Fotografo, Issue 351, December 2024, by Livia Corbò
  • Dodho Magazine, Issue 29, June 2024, by Maxim Panés
  • California Sun, Memory Building, June 18, 2024, by Mike McPhate
  • AAP Magazine, Women, February 2024, Issue 38, by Sandrine Hermand-Grisel
2023 2022 2021 2020 2019
  • Fraction Magazine, 11th Anniversary Issue, May 2019, Issue 122
2018
  • PDN Photo of the Day, August 30
  • Lenscratch, Lies at the Colorado Photographic Arts Center
2017
  • All About Photo, Annette LeMay Burke: Fauxliage, by Ann Jastrab
  • Don't Take Pictures, Photo of the Day, October 23
  • F-Stop Magazine, Americana @ CPAC
  • The Eye of Photography, Americana
  • Tour Les Jours Curieux, Fauxliage
  • CENTER Santa Fe, Website Marketing
2014 2013 2009
LECTURES
2022
  • Artist Talk, Portfolio 2022 - Fauxliage, Atlanta Photography Center, Atlanta, GA, Jun 2
  • Artist Talk, Memory is a Verb, Los Angeles Center of Photography, Los Angeles, CA, Jan 20
2021
  • Artist Talk, Fauxliage Book Launch, Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA, May 7
  • Artist Talk, Photobook Weekend, Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA, May 15
  • Interview, Disguised Cell Towers Pose for Photographic Artist in Fauxliage, AGL Media Group with Don Bishop, July 20
  • Interview, Fauxliage, Techtonic with Mark Hurst, July 12

SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Prints
  • Wieland Collection, Atlanta, GA
  • Colorado Photographic Art Center, Denver, CO
  • Imago Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
  • Arte Al Límite, Santiago, Chile
Books
  • Basel University Library, Basel, Switzerland
  • Berkeley Public Library, Berkeley, CA
  • Dresden University of Technology, SLUB Library, Dresden, Germany
  • Duke University Libraries, Durham, NC
  • Elon University, Belk Library, Elon, NC
  • George Washington University, Washington, DC
  • Georgetown University, Lauinger Library, Washington, DC
  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, CA
  • Los Angeles County Public Library, Downey, CA
  • Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Godine Library, Boston, MA
  • Mechanics’ Institute Library, San Francisco, CA
  • Princeton University, Firestone Library, Princeton, NJ
  • Santa Clara County Public Library, Campbell, CA
  • Stanford University, Cecil H. Green Library, Stanford, CA
  • Texas A&M University, Evans Library, College Station, TX
  • University of California, Berkeley, Doe Library, Berkeley, CA
  • University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
  • University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA
  • University of Chicago Library, Chicago, IL
  • Zayed University Library, Dubai, UAE

DONATIONS
2024
  • Center for Photographic Art, 8x10 Annual Fundraising Auction
2023
  • Center for Photographic Art, 8x10 Annual Fundraising Auction
  • Photographic Center Northwest, Benefit Auction
2022
  • Los Fotos Project, Annual Fundraising Auction
  • Center for Photographic Art, 8x10 Annual Fundraising Auction
  • Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Annual Fundraising Auction
2021
  • Los Angeles Center of Photography, Annual Fundraising Auction
  • Center for Photographic Art, 8x10 Annual Fundraising Auction

EDUCATION
  • BA - Geology, University of California, Berkeley, CA

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