‘Speaking of the Arts’: Dorothy O’ Connor

Dorothy O’Connor is a multidisciplinary artist, specializing in photography, public art installation, and sculpture. Having fallen in love with the photography process in eighth-grade art class, she calls it “creative, scientific, totally immersive, and a little magical.” O’Connor was born and raised in Atlanta. “I love this town, and I really never saw any reason to leave it,” she says.

O’Connor described finding comfort in repetitive, labor-intensive processes, which serve well her large-scale works that incorporate both engineering, design, and photographic skills. Her journey into public art installation began with building large, fantastical rooms to photograph in her converted garage, and later opening them for public visitors to experience as a tableau vivant. She’s focused now on stand-alone sculptural pieces, for which she draws inspiration from her personal life, as well as environmental and animal welfare. A current piece, “The Urban Apiary,” which stands on the Westside Beltline, is a collaboration with Zipporah Camille Thompson. A collection of O’Connor’s photography will show at the new gallery of the Epicurean Hotel in Midtown for six weeks, beginning mid-October. 

More on O’Connor and her work can be found at www.dorothyoconnor.com.