LENSCRATCH - Fine Art Photography Daily

Phoebe Shuman-Goodier: Bad Dogs by Aline SmithsonApril 9, 2026

©Phoebe Shuman-Goodier, from Bad Dogs

I have been a long time supporter of the Film Photo Awards, spearheaded by Eliot Dudik, and this is where I discovered the terrific work of Phoebe Shuman-Goodier. Her use of color, created constructions, and sense of humor in her series Bad Dogs, drew me in immediately. The work is a collaboration with her father as they collect ephemera and objects to create life size still lifes and

An interview with the artist follows.

©Phoebe Shuman-Goodier, from Bad Dogs

Bad Dogs

The woods surrounding my childhood home conceal over thirty cars, a bus, a bread truck, and many sailboats. Inside, three stories are packed floor to ceiling. My dad’s hoarding disorder began after my parents’ divorce when I was eleven, and the junkyard grew with me.

Over the past decade, my series “Bad Dogs” has shifted from processing family history to focusing on my relationship with my father. I used to sift through the strata of our family land, searching for artifacts of identity and closure. Now, my dad and I construct and dismantle ephemeral sculptures from the debris, clearing a non-judgmental space to be together.

Each assemblage is an intuitive process of balance. Over time, we have developed a shared artistic language that uses the material of our differences as our vocabulary. I express my sense of danger and precarity as I stack the gas cans, my dad offers a red umbrella. The practice is cathartic and fun. The resulting photographs celebrate our ever-evolving relationship and the healing powers of making art.

©Phoebe Shuman-Goodier, from Bad Dogs

Phoebe Shuman-Goodier is an interdisciplinary artist whose work explores memory, care, and relational experience through collaborative and material processes. She earned an MFA in Photography & Transmedia from the University of Texas at Austin, where she was the 2023–2025 recipient of the Russell Lee Endowed Presidential Scholarship in Photography and the William and Bettye Nowlin Endowed Presidential Fellowship. She holds a BFA in Photography from the Rhode Island School of Design, where she received the John A. Chironna Scholarship and the Paul Krot Memorial Scholarship for excellence in photography. Phoebe has exhibited across the U.S., most recently at Bond Millen Gallery in Richmond, VA, Woods-Gerry Gallery in Providence, RI, and the Visual Arts Center in Austin. Her ongoing project Bad Dogs has been recognized with awards including the 2026 Working Assumptions Project Grant and the 2024 Film Photo Student Award sponsored by Kodak. In Fall 2025, Phoebe was interviewed for Southwest Contemporary Magazine. Her work has also been featured in Fotofilmic, Musée Magazine, and F-Stop Magazine. Phoebe manages the Photo & Media Arts Lab at St. Edward’s University and teaches at the University of Texas at Austin and Austin Community College.

©Phoebe Shuman-Goodier, from Bad Dogs

Tell us about your growing up and what brought you to photography.

I grew up in a rural part of Rhode Island. I enjoyed a lot of independence and time in nature as a child. My high school had a darkroom and I believe I took my first photography class when I was a junior. I loved that the darkroom was a world apart from the everyday life of high school. The red darkness felt magical and safe to me. Transforming the world into a tactile object was entrancing. I didn’t realize how much I loved it until I was in college reflecting on how I would skip classes to spend more time in that world. Once I had that realization, I decided to apply to the photo department at RISD.

©Phoebe Shuman-Goodier, from Bad Dogs

Congratulations on your MFA and all the accolades you have received. How has it been starting your official journey as a photographer?

Thank you! Returning to school was fun, challenging, and affirming. Since graduating, I have been fortunate to start teaching at two schools and managing the photo lab at another. It is a privilege to be able to think about art and photography everyday. I feel like my learning has only just begun.

©Phoebe Shuman-Goodier, from Bad Dogs

How do you juggle both your editorial/commercial work with your fine art projects?

The work that sustains my practice is teaching and managing the photo lab. While it can be hard to balance time commitments, I have found that they are very complimentary roles. It is always a delight to teach analog processes to students and share that wonder that initially drew me to this medium. As I said, I feel like my learning has only just begun despite having so much background studying photography. It is true what they say that the best way to internalize information is to teach it to someone else. I find that whatever we are working on in class is applicable in some capacity to what I am working on in my fine art projects and we can always look at it through a new lens, based on what is happening in the world around us. I hope I never lose this mindset of learning alongside my students. It keeps the work engaging and the connections genuine.

©Phoebe Shuman-Goodier, from Bad Dogs

How did Bad Dogs come about?

Bad Dogs started organically when I moved back to Rhode Island to attend RISD. At first, it was my way of processing the impacts of my parents’ divorce and my father’s hoarding disorder. I needed to find myself amidst all of that mess. It has become a practice of empathy and a way for my father and I to have a loving relationship across our differences.

©Phoebe Shuman-Goodier, from Bad Dogs

Who or what inspires you?

A few artists who inspire me are Ana Mendieta, John Cage, Mierle Laderman-Ukeles, Janine Antoni, and Sarah Sze.

©Phoebe Shuman-Goodier, from Bad Dogs

Are you working on a new project?

Yes, I have found community and inspiration in West Texas. I am experimenting with the materials I am gathering there in different forms: photography, printmaking, bookmaking, video, and sculpture. I’m excited about it and it feels right. The ideas are flowing freely.

As a film shooter myself, I am wondering what camera you use…it feels like a Mamiya 67!

I use a variety of cameras, but mainly a Pentax 67 and a Sony A7Riii.

Do you have instagram?

I do not, but I love connecting via email! I would like to eventually get my act together and send out an infrequent newsletter. Folks can sign up for that on my website.