Essay 624 • Aug 18th 2026
- by Kate Sweeney
Making art together is such a special intimacy. It's sacred. The final product is wonderful and everything... but the alchemy that's created from the experience is really what I'm interested in. It's what inspires me. Just me, Bonnie, and the light. When I can look through the images and remember the way the creek water felt and the sweat and the moss and the smell of the trees? The way we explore the scene together, dancing and playing... it's magic.
Kate Sweeney is a self-taught photographer from Columbus, Ohio whose work has been featured in Billboard, Glamour Magazine, Teen Vogue and numerous others, and was TPJ’s photographer-in-residence from 2016-2019. She aims to make work challenging ideas of femininity with an honesty that is simultaneously defiant and inviting. She does this by utilizing the human form, color, and our connection to nature. She is obsessed with memories and takes an empathetic approach to her portraits, interested in exploring themes of memory, identity, and freedom.
Website | Instagram
Model: Bonnie
Check out all of Kate’s TPJ photo essays:
Kelsey x The Impossible Project
24 Hours in Catalina, Part Two
24 Hours in Catalina, Part One