Lauren Hanussak is a San Francisco-based photographer who explores leaning into softness and vulnerability as strengths amidst challenge and uncertainty, conveyed through dreamy pastel colors and muted tones.

Her relationship with photography began as a young child digging through her late mother’s box of memorabilia, absorbing the images, videos, and written letters to piece together a narrative of her life. This experience shaped her photography practice: a way to process and transform grief and complicated emotions.

Today, she uses photography to capture tenderness, meaning and nostalgia within herself and the people around her. At the heart of her work is a belief that everyone deserves to be authentically seen.

Hanussak’s works have been published in The New York Times and Los Angeles Times, as well as displayed in a group show at Good Mother Gallery in Los Angeles, CA. She was one of two artists-in-residence at Art House San Clemente in 2022.