USA Projects

Ellen Wallenstein is a photographer and book artist from New York City. She works on long-term documentary projects, visually responding to her daily life experiences. For the last ten years she has been interested in photographing her parents' generation: over the last three she has been making portraits of people over 80, specifically the artists and intellectuals who have influenced our nation's culture.

Wallenstein was born and raised in New York City.  She made her first photographs in the 1960s while a student at Hunter College High School. She earned a BA in Art History from SUNY Stony Brook, and an MFA in Photography from Pratt Institute. She began an academic teaching career in the Art Department of the University of Texas at Austin in 1978.

Ellen is an Adjunct Faculty Member at the School of Visual Arts, where she teaches in the BFA Photography as well as the MPS Digital Photography programs. Wallenstein is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at Pratt Institute, where she teaches photography and book arts. She writes photo book reviews and articles for online and printed publications.

Photograph of Ellen Wallenstein by  Gerard Sea

Editta Sherman, b.1912, Photographer, Carnegie Hall Studios, NYC, 2009. by  Ellen Wallenstein