Brooke Shaden
Brooke Shaden is a fine art photographer who uses mixed media self-portraiture to explore vulnerability, resilience, and the human psyche. Through hauntingly cinematic imagery and deeply personal talks, she invites audiences to confront darkness with curiosity and compassion—revealing how creativity can transform inner struggle into meaning, connection, and quiet hope.
Self-Portrait Artist
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Creativity Catalyst
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Grief Healer
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Self-Portrait Artist • Creativity Catalyst • Grief Healer •
More about Brooke
Brooke Shaden is a fine art photographer, mixed media artist, and writer specializing in conceptual imagery and self-portraiture. She has two degrees in English Literature and Filmmaking. Brooke has always seen the world as a dark yet beautiful place. Inspired at a young age by mortality, she has always had a fear of death and a fascination with it. That intrigue morphed into a desire to portray grief in a positive way, and that has guided her work since 2009.
Over the past fifteen years, Brooke has specialized in finding beauty and darkness and utilizes a gentle approach to bring others into that space. Community is at the forefront of Brooke’s life. She hosts an annual creativity conference called Promoting Passion which focuses on our purpose, legacy, and impact. Outside of her own convention, Brooke speaks to crowds of thousands throughout each year to inspire personal growth and reflection.
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Represented by five galleries and with work collected by museums, her art has made an indelible mark and has inspired hundreds of thousands of up-and-coming photographers. With sponsorship from companies like Sony and Microsoft, Brooke has made it her mission to share inspiration far and wide. She was named in the top 10 most influential photographers, photographer of the year, and won Ron Howard’s Project Imagination. Brooke co-founded The Light Space, a photography program for those vulnerable to human trafficking, and was a foster parent from 2019 to 2023 to six children.
Speaking Topics
Innovation
Health & Wellness
Culture
Watch Brooke in action
Presentations
Sparking Creativity
How do we learn to love what is impermanent? Artist and Sony photographer Brooke Shaden uses striking imagery from Northern Arizona to show how loss can become beauty. Through dramatic, often self-portrait work, she shares how creating art brings light to darkness. Brooke believes what we create helps us understand our lives, inspire others, and shape the legacy we leave behind.
When Grief Turns into Beauty
After becoming a foster mother in 2019, Brooke has intimately learned that grief can be beautiful if we learn to embrace impermanence in our lives. Her art has always dealt with the intersection between nature and mortality, and she is uniquely suited to speak on this nuanced and difficult topic in a way that inspires positive action in others.
“Art is simply the doorway that allows us to build a home out of our life’s greatest purpose.”
– Brooke Shaden