{{short description|American fine art photographer (born 1971)}} {{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Isa Leshko | honorific_suffix = | image = Isa Leshko.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different than name --> | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1971}} | birth_place = | ethnicity = | education = | alma_mater = Haverford College | known_for = Fine art photography | notable_works = | style = | movement = | spouse = | awards = <!-- {{awd|award|year|title|role|name}} (optional) --> | elected = | patrons = | memorials = | website = {{URL|isaleshko.com}} | module = }} '''Isabell Carmella Leshko'''<ref>[https://www.isaleshko.com/about-isa-leshko Bio], IsaLeshko.com. Accessed October 13, 2022. "Isa—whose full name is Isabell Carmella—grew up in Carteret, New Jersey, in an Italian-American working class family."</ref> (born 1971) is an American fine art photographer<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/29/what-we-can-learn-from-old-animals/?_r=0|title=What We Can Learn From Old Animals|last=O'Connor|first=Anahad|work=Well|date=29 December 2011 |access-date=2017-03-11|language=en}}</ref> best known for her ''Elderly Animals'' series which focuses on animal rights, aging and mortality.
==Life== Leshko grew up in Carteret, New Jersey in an Italian-American working-class family. She received her bachelor's degree from Haverford College, where she studied cognitive psychology, neurobiology, and gender studies.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lensculture.com/isaleshko|title=Isa Leshko {{!}} LensCulture|last=LensCulture|first=Isa Leshko {{!}}|website=LensCulture|access-date=2017-03-11}}</ref>
Her work has been published in ''The Atlantic'', ''The Boston Globe'', ''The Guardian'', ''Harper's Magazine'', and ''The New York Times''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.themost10.com/touching-portraits-of-elderly-animals/|title=10 Most Touching Portraits of Elderly Animals By Isa Leshko|date=21 November 2012 |publisher=the Most 10|accessdate=17 March 2017 |language=}}</ref><ref name=kf/>
Leshko began traveling to animal sanctuaries across the country, photographing elderly farm animals that rarely live out their full natural lifespans.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2011/11/30/142916929/to-cope-with-mothers-illness-photographer-looks-to-animals|title=To Cope With Her Mother's Illness, Photographer Focuses On Aging Animals|work=NPR.org|access-date=2017-03-11|language=en}}</ref> She started this series after caring for her mother who had Alzheimer's disease.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/15/elderly-animal-photos_n_4591267.html|title=Incredible Black-And-White Photos Of Elderly Animals Will Break Your Heart|date=2014-01-15|work=The Huffington Post|access-date=2017-03-11|language=en-US}}</ref> This series provided an outlet for dealing with her grief and also became a commentary on commonly held assumptions about aging and animals in their later years.<ref name=kf>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2011/apr/24/isa-leshko-elderly-animals|title=Isa Leshko's Elderly Animals: there's life in the old dog yet|last=Fox|first=Killian|date=2011-04-23|work=The Guardian|access-date=2017-03-11|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Some of the animals are factory farm rescues, others are pets.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-photographer-captures-the-beauty-and-dignity-of-elderly-animals-180947591/|title=This Photographer Captures the Beauty And Dignity of Elderly Animals|last=Nuwer|first=Rachel|author-link=Rachel Nuwer |work=Smithsonian|access-date=2017-03-11|language=en}}</ref>
She has exhibited her work widely in the United States, including shows at the Griffin Museum of Photography, the Houston Arts Alliance, the Houston Center for Photography, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Photographic Resource Center, and the Silver Eye Center for Photography.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}} Her prints are in the collections of the Boston Public Library, the Harry Ransom Center, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}} She has received fellowships from the Culture & Animals Foundation, the Houston Center for Photography, the Millay Colony for the Arts, and the Silver Eye Center for Photography.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}} thumb|''Elderly Animals'' Installation, Fellowship Exhibition at the Houston Center for Photography, 2012
==References== {{Reflist}} thumb|Isa Leshko and Richard Levy, Elderly Animals Installation at Miami Project, 2013 {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leshko, Isa}} Category:1971 births Category:Haverford College alumni Category:American women photographers Category:People from Carteret, New Jersey
Category:Photographers from New Jersey Category:Living people Category:21st-century American women