SALLY TONKIN

Sally Tonkin is a documentary photographer who lives in the small agricultural community of Yakima, Washington.

 

She began taking pictures shortly before graduating from the University of Washington with an English degree. And she realized with the first roll of film that she would make photography her life.

 

Initially self-taught, she worked as a full time photojournalist for several newspapers before returning to the University of Washington for an MFA. Her work has been shown at The Frye Museum, The Carpenter Center at Harvard University, The Henry Gallery, The Shoreline Museum, Heritage University, The Larson Gallery and the Boxx Gallery.

 

Her teaching experience as a graduate student at the UW sparked an interest in working with high school students. She taught for 20 years before leaving the profession this year to spend more time on her own projects. Sally is the first high school teacher in the six state northwest region to win the Honored Educator award given primarily to college professors by the Society for Photographic Education.

 

Sally prefers to work on long-term projects that deal with social and cultural issues. Her work has been published in several books, including one on the biker rally in Sturgis. She was awarded a Seattle CityArtist Grant for a project that put faces to the controversy over loss of low income housing at Yesler Terrace in Seattle.