Revealing the infrastructures that shape our sense of place
Artist Biography
Annette LeMay Burke (b. 1964) is a photographic artist and Northern California native based in Silicon Valley. Trained as a geologist at UC Berkeley and a veteran of the tech industry, she brings both scientific insight and an insider's perspective to her subject: how infrastructures — technological, geological, architectural, and domestic — reshape the western landscape and mirror the complexities of contemporary life.
Her monograph, Fauxliage: Disguised Cell Phone Towers of the American West, was published by Daylight Books in 2021 with a foreword by Ann M. Jastrab. Her work has been exhibited in more than 100 shows worldwide — including Photo London, the Oceanside Museum of Art, and the Royal Geographical Society in London — and recognized with Photolucida's Critical Mass Top 50, LensCulture Critics' Choice, Best in Show at the Colorado Photographic Arts Center, and a semifinalist selection for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery's Outwin 2022. Her images have appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, The Times (UK), Hyperallergic, and Elle Decor Italia, among others.
Her prints are held in the Wieland Collection (Atlanta), the Colorado Photographic Arts Center, and Imago Lisboa; her monograph is in the collections of LACMA, Princeton, Stanford, and more than a dozen other institutions.
Burke is a co-creator of Memory is a Verb: Exploring Time and Transience, a traveling exhibition touring museums and galleries across the United States, and a founding member of Maverick Photographers, a Bay Area photography collective.
Artist Statement
My photographic practice engages the American West as a landscape shaped by time, memory, and human intervention. Using strategies such as temporal layering, typologies, and the serendipitous nature of the photo road trip, I focus on places where natural landforms intersect with built infrastructures. These sites reveal tensions between the land’s deep histories and the accelerating demands of contemporary, technology-driven life. My images uncover both the visible marks of environmental change and the more ephemeral traces that accumulate over time, treating the landscape as a living palimpsest of memory and transformation.
Contact: annette@atelierlemay.com
Curriculum Vitae
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SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
- Krause Center for Innovation Gallery, Los Altos, CA – Fauxliage
MEMORY IS A VERB — TRAVELING EXHIBITION (CO-CREATOR)
2026
- Danforth Art Museum, Framingham, MA (Curator: Jessica Roscio)
- Vermont Center for Photography, Brattleboro, VT
- PhotoSC, Columbia, SC
- The Art Center Highland Park, Highland Park, IL
- Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside, CA (Curator: Marisa Caichiolo)
- Dallas Center of Photography, Dallas, TX (Curator: Emily Edwards)
- Bonsack Gallery, St. Louis, MO (Curator: Molly Moog)
- Brand Gallery, Glendale, CA (Curator: Dr. Rotem Rozental)
COMPASS: NEW DIRECTIONS IN NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY — TRAVELING EXHIBITION (CO-CREATOR)
2027
- Arts Warehouse, Delray Beach, FL
INTO THE COMPLETE UNKNOWN — TRAVELING EXHIBITION (CO-CREATOR)
2025
- Harvey Milk Photo Center, San Francisco, CA (Curators: Melissa Castro Keesor & Katherine Akey)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026
- Los Angeles Center of Photography, Los Angeles, CA – Reservoir: Photography, Loneliness and Well Being (Juror: Dr. Rotem Rozental)
- Los Angeles Center of Photography, Los Angeles, CA – Expand and Contract: American Documentary Photography in the 21st Century (Honorable Mention) (Juror: Dr. Rotem Rozental)
- Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA – 2026 Members’ Juried Exhibition (Juror: Dr. Rebeca Senf)
- Lenscratch - Online, The 2026 Fault Lines Exhibition, July 4, 2026 (Jurors: Norm Diamond and Marcy Palmer)
- Photo London 2025, London, UK – LensCulture New Discoveries
- The Curated Fridge, Somerville, MA – Leftovers, Winter 2025 (Juror: Yorgos Efthymiadis)
- Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA – 2024 International Juried Exhibition (Juror: Elizabeth Avedon)
- International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum, Online – Behind the Veil (Juror: Elizabeth Opalenik)
- Candela Books + Gallery, Richmond, VA – UnBound13! - The Curated Fridge (Juror: Dominique Muñoz)
- Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, CO – 2024 Annual Members' Show (Best in Show) (Juror: Brent Lewis)
- Head On Photo Festival 2023, Sydney, Australia – Australian Geographic Environmental Award Int’l Runner-up (Fauxliage - Airport Approach), On-line Exhibitor (Fauxliage series), Portrait Semi-finalist
- Forestry England and The Royal Geographical Society, Multiple locations, UK – Earth Photo (2 images)
- Museum of Nature of Cantabria, Cantabria, Spain – Art in Nature III - The Instant of Creation (Juror: Marisa Caichiolo)
- Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA – 2023 International Juried Exhibition (Juror: Shana Lopes)
- Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA – Imminent Existence, Critical Mass Top 50 Exhibition (Juror: Arnika Dawkins)
- Hellerau Photography Award, Dresden, Germany – Portraits 2023 (Theme: Surface) (Memory Building Series)
- Texas Woman’s University, Denton, TX – Joyce Elaine Grant Exhibition and Endowment (3rd Place) (3 images) (Juror: Shana Lopes)
- Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta, GA – APG Airport 2022 (2 images) (Juror: Lisa Volpe)
- Los Angeles Center of Photography, Los Angeles, CA – 2nd Annual Project Exhibition (6 images) (Juror: Ann Jastrab)
- Davis Orton Gallery, Hudson, NY – Memory and Dreams (12 images) (Juror: Karen Davis)
- Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA – 28th Annual Juried Exhibition Show (Jurors: Frances Jakubek & Iaritza Menjivar)
- Atlanta Photography Group, Atlanta, GA – Portfolio 2022 (6 images) (Juror: Karen Haas)
- All About Photo, Online – All About Photo Awards 2022 (Jurors: Ian Berry, Paula Tognarelli, Ann Jastrab, Manfred Baumann, Tom Price, Guiseppe Oliverio, Sandrine Hermand-Grisel)
- Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA – 2022 Members’ Juried Exhibition (Juror: Crista Dix)
- Frederic C Hamilton Fine Art Gallery, Aurora, CO – Luminaries (5 images) (Curator: Jasmine Chu)
- Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA – 2021 International Juried Exhibition (Jurors: Debra Klomp Ching and Darren Ching)
- Los Angeles Center of Photography, Los Angeles, CA – The Creative Portrait (Juror: Aline Smithson)
- Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO – In Conversation with the Land (Juror: Karen Haas)
- Lenscratch, Online – Vernacular Photograph Exhibition, June 12, 2021 (1st Place) (Juror: Greg Sand)
- Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA – Time Capsule Juried Exhibition (2 images) (Juror: Shamim M. Momin)
- Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA – 27th Annual Juried Exhibition Show (Juror: Paula Tognarelli)
- Candela Gallery, Richmond, VA – Unbound 10!
- Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, CO – 2021 Annual Members' Show (Director’s Choice) (Juror: Aline Smithson)
- Imago Lisboa Photo Festival 2021, Lisbon, Portugal – The Family in Transition (10 images)
- Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA – 2021 Members’ Juried Exhibition (Juror: Susan Burnstine)
- Association of Photographers, London, UK – 2020 AOP Open Award, Series (Finalist) (4 images) (Jurors: Anne Manion and Tim Flach) *Exhibition at One Canada Square Lobby, Canary Wharf cancelled due to COVID-19*
- Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA – 2020 International Juried Exhibition (online) (Juror: Aline Smithson)
- Texas Photographic Society, Houston, TX – TPS 29: The International Competition (Juror: Elizabeth Avedon)
- Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA – 26th Annual Juried Exhibition Show (Juror: Alexa Dilworth)
- Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, CO – Annual Members' Show (Juror: Ann Jastrab)
- Academy Art Museum, Easton, MD – New Photography II (2 images) (Juror: Philip Brookman)
- Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA – 2020 Members’ Juried Exhibition (Jurors: Ann Jastrab and Laura Sackett)
- Texas Photographic Society, Houston, TX – Urban Landscape (Juror: Jamie Stillings)
- Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, CO – Annual Members' Show (Juror: Kat Kiernan)
- Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA – 25th Annual Juried Exhibition Show (online) (Jurors: Julie Grahame and Paula Tognarelli)
- Texas Photographic Society, Houston, TX – TPS 28: The International Competition (Juror: Arthur Meyerson)
- Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA – PCNW 22nd Juried Photography Exhibition (Jurors: Conor Risch and Lara Behnert)
- Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA – 2018 International Juried Exhibition (Juror: Eve Schillo)
- Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, CO – Lies (4 images) (Juror: Richard McCabe)
- The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO – Landscapes 2018 (2 images), Honorable Mention, (Juror: Allie Haeusslein)
- Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA – 2017 International Juried Exhibition (Juror: Philip Brookman)
- Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, CO – Americana (2 images) (Juror: Darren Ching)
- Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA – 2017 Members' Juried Exhibition (Jurors: Elizabeth Corden and Jan Potts)
BOOKS
2026
- Reservoir: Photography, Loneliness and Well Being (exhibition catalogue, contributing artist), Workshop Arts (Design: Caleb Cain Marcus)
- Fauxliage: Disguised Cell Phone Towers of the American West (monograph), Daylight Books
PUBLICATIONS AND PRESS
2026
- Boston Globe, Putting pastness in the viewing present - Three photography shows at the Danforth examine the workings of memory, March 27, 2026, by Mark Feeney
- Los Angeles Times, This L.A. photo project shows loneliness in uncomfortable ways — and helps people feel seen, February 9, 2026, by Deborah Vankin
- What Will You Remember?, Memory is a Verb, February 18, 2026, by Elin Spring
- Lenscratch, Reservoir: Photography, Loneliness and Well Being, January 21, 2026, by Aline Smithson
- Il Fotografo, Issue 351, December 2024, by Livia Corbò
- Dodho Magazine, Issue 29, June 2024, by Maxim Panés
- California Sun, Memory Building, June 18, 2024, by Mike McPhate
- AAP Magazine, Women, February 2024, Issue 38, by Sandrine Hermand-Grisel
- The Times, Earth Photo: the changing face of our precious planet, June 8, 2023
- Metro UK, Snapshot: Earth Photo Awards 2023 – when humanity and nature collide, June 10, 2023, by Katherine Fidler
- Australian Geographic, Issue 177, November/December 2023, by Nicky Catley
- Lenscratch, If Memory Serves: Photography, Recollections and Vision, December 16, 2023, by Aline Smithson
- Revista Arte Al Límite, Annette LeMay Burke, Edition 102, June 3, 2023, by Gleisy Ríos
- The Riv Magazine, Fake Plastic Trees, Fall 2022, by Gina Terlinden
- Passepartout 2021 Catalogue, Passepartout Photo Prize, Rome, Italy
- All About Photo, All About Photo Awards 2022, Summer 2022, Special Edition, by Sandrine Hermand-Grisel
- Lenscratch, Memory is a Verb: Annette LeMay Burke: Memory Building, March 14, 2022, by Aline Smithson
- 2022 Calendar, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, CO
- The New York Times, 5 Design Books That Are Easy on the Eyes, Sept 2, 2021, by Eve M. Kahn
- Elizabeth Avedon Journal, Best Photography Books of 2021, by Elizabeth Avedon
- Snoecks 2022, 98th Volume, Belgium
- Dezeen, Top 10 Architectural Photography Projects of 2021, December 3, 2021, By Jane Englefield
- Fraction, Fauxliage Book Review, July 2021, Issue 147, by Bree Lamb
- EXIT Image and Culture Photography Magazine, Memory Building, October 2021, Spain, by Marta Sesé
- AAP Magazine, Shapes, October 2021, Issue 19, by Sandrine Hermand-Grisel
- Lenscratch, Annette LeMay Burke: Fauxliage, May 3, 2021, by Aline Smithson
- Daily Mail, Fascinating new photo book reveals how America's cell phone masts are being cleverly disguised as fake palm trees, phoney cacti and even bogus church crosses, June 3, 2021, by Samantha Lewis
- Los Angeles Times, Explaining L.A. Fauxliage, May 26, 2021, by Patt Morrison
- Newsweek Japan, Photo Feature - Unnatural scenery of a mobile antenna that "mimics", June 1, 2021
- KATALOG Journal of Photography & Video, 32.1 - Spring 2021, Denmark
- Hyperallergic, When Cell Phone Towers Cosplay as Trees, May 10, 2021, by Sarah Rose Sharp
- Elle Decor, Italy, La Mimesi (In)Naturale Della Tecnologia Rivelata Dall'Obiettivo di Annette LeMay Burke, May 8, 2021, by Isabella Prisco
- California Sun, The masquerading cell towers of the American West, April 27, 2021, by Mike McPhate
- Dezeen, Annette LeMay Burke documents America's camouflaged cell phone towers, April 29, 2021, by Cajsa Carlson
- Sierra Club Magazine, These Disguised Cell Towers Couldn’t Fool Anyone, Could They?, May 2021, by Paul Rauber
- L’Oeil de la Photographie, Daylight : Annette LeMay Burke : Fauxliage, May 4, 2021
- Art Daily, Daylight to publish Fauxliage: Disguised Cell Phone Towers of the American West by Annette LeMay Burke, April 2021
- All About Photo, Annette LeMay Burke: Fauxliage, by Ann Jastrab
ARTIST TALKS AND PANELS
2026
- Artist Panel, Memory is a Verb (moderated by Karen Haas, Lane Senior Curator of Photographs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), Vermont Center for Photography, Brattleboro, VT, August 30
- Artist Panel, Memory is a Verb (moderated by Jessica Roscio, Danforth Director), Danforth Art Museum, Framingham, MA, May 17
- Artist Panel and Book Signing, Into the Complete Unknown (moderated by Ann Jastrab, Executive Director at Center for Photographic Art), Harvey Milk Photo Center, San Francisco, CA, November 18
- Artist Talk, Portfolio 2022 - Fauxliage, Atlanta Photography Group, Atlanta, GA, June 2
- Artist Talk, Memory is a Verb, Los Angeles Center of Photography, Los Angeles, CA, January 20
- Artist Talk, Fauxliage Book Launch, Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA, May 7
- Artist Talk, Photobook Weekend, Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA, May 15
SELECTED AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
2024
- Critics’ Choice – Critics' Choice 2024, LensCulture (Juror: Megan Wright - Memory Building Series)
- Best in Show – 2024 Annual Members’ Show, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, CO
- International Runner-up – Australian Geographic Head On Environmental Award, Head On Photo Festival, Sydney, Australia
- Shortlist – Earth Photo, The Royal Geographical Society and Forestry England, London, UK
- Finalist – Portraits 2023, Hellerau Photography Award, Dresden, Germany
- Winner – Critical Mass Top 50, Photolucida (Memory Building series)
- Semi-finalist – The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC – for Snuggies, Remote and Buck
- Critics’ Choice – Critics' Choice 22, LensCulture (Juror: Dimitri Beck – Fauxliage image)
- Winner – Architecture Photography MasterPrize – Other Exterior Category, Architecture MasterPrize, Los Angeles, CA
- 2nd Place – 2nd Annual Project Exhibition, Los Angeles Center of Photography, Los Angeles, CA
- Winner – The Family in Transition, Imago Lisboa Photo Festival 2021, Lisbon, Portugal
- Director’s Choice – 2021 Annual Members’ Show, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver CO
- 1st Place – Vernacular Photograph Exhibition, Lenscratch, Online
- Finalist – AOP Awards, Open Category - Series, Association of Photographers, London, UK
- Finalist – Critical Mass Top 200, Photolucida (Fauxliage series)
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Prints
- Wieland Collection, Atlanta, GA
- Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, CO
- Imago Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
- Arte Al Límite, Santiago, Chile
- Basel University Library, Basel, Switzerland
- Dresden University of Technology, SLUB Library, Dresden, Germany
- Duke University Libraries, Durham, NC
- George Washington University, Washington, DC
- Georgetown University, Lauinger Library, Washington, DC
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, CA
- Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Godine Library, Boston, MA
- Mechanics’ Institute Library, San Francisco, CA
- Princeton University, Firestone Library, Princeton, NJ
- Stanford University, Cecil H. Green Library, Stanford, CA
- Texas A&M University, Evans Library, College Station, TX
- University of California, Berkeley, Doe Library, Berkeley, CA
- University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
- University of Chicago Library, Chicago, IL
- Zayed University Library, Dubai, UAE
EDUCATION
- BA - Geology, University of California, Berkeley, CA