Home Artist Programs Supported Artists Sienna Pinderhughes

Sienna Pinderhughes

New Orleans, Louisiana

A black and white photograph depicts irises and a small assemblage of family photos. Driftwood encircles the framed photo, with a flat piece forming an altar at the bottom, holding a stub of a purple candle in a brass candlestick holder, dried yellow roses and a pair of dice showing one pips.

Ancestor Altar

2023

In a frame made of gilt wood and strips of mirroring, a black and white photo depicts a face in profile. The face is covered with triangular mirror facets, and a headwrap is composed of strips of paper with typed text, and dried flowers crown the head.

Untitled #3, MASKOFF

2019

In a gold frame is a black and white photograph of a young adult standing close to us, holding a baseball bat across both shoulders. The person has dark-toned skin and black hair braided into cornrows. They wear a cropped white shirt, jeans slung low over the hips so the band of the underwear shows, and a leather coat. Behind is a dirt road leading back to a car, where a second person leans against the driver’s side door.

Wearing Masculinity

2014

A framed photograph is installed in the corner of a room, with two square mirrors reflecting it from the adjoining wall. The photograph depicts a person kneeling in a wooded area, holding up a flower framed oval mirror to their face, revealing their reflection. They have medium dark skin tone, voluminous dark hair, and wear a tulle skirt and tank top. A bell hangs to the upper right from bare bent branches.

They Are A Reflection Of You

2014

Artworks shown are selected from works submitted by the artist in their grant or residency application. All works are copyright of the artist or artist’s estate.

About Sienna Pinderhughes

Black and white photograph of the head and bare shoulders of a dark-skinned person whose head is blurry with movement. A light-colored mask covers the forehead down to the bottom of the nose, and tendrils appear to whip back and forth.

Sienna Pinderhughes is a New Orleans-based photographer, filmmaker, and installation artist. Her work incorporates portraiture of self, strangers, and community members as part of an ongoing exploration of identity, space-making, and the power of the photographic image within personal and collective archives. Photography is for her a love language and a community-based practice. In 2015, Pinderhughes embarked on American Photobooth Tour, an on-going mobile photography studio where I create impromptu portraits on street corners in Black communities across the US. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at: Da Vinci Art Alliance, Philadelphia; Contemporary Arts Center, Ashé Cultural Art Center and the Ace Hotel, New Orleans; Trenton Artworks, NJ; and Vivid Solutions Gallery in Washington, DC.

Program Participation

Joan Mitchell Center Residency, 2026

Website / Social Links

“ My work is deeply informed by my own family’s photographic archive. Growing up with images of my ancestors gave me an early understanding of the generational power of portraiture. It affirmed for me that a photograph is not just a record, but a portal—a dialogue between past, present, and future.”