Joan Brooks Baker

Through the Lens of My Camera: The Essence of Woman

Joan Brooks Baker

Whether through her camera lens or her writing, Baker’s goal has been to explore life’s balance in relationship to the feminine energy. A focus of her search has been to look for the essence of woman—past and present—how a woman, in her own way, honors life. Or in more colorful terms, what makes a woman tick?

She has had the good fortune and opportunity to travel and photograph many women, here in the US and in other parts of the world. Her curiosity and need for connection have helped her to understand woman’s essence and has enlightened her about what makes herself tick.

Joan Brooks Baker was brought up in New York City and has lived in Santa Fe since the early 1980s. She has been involved with Santa Fe community entities, such as The Farmers Market, New Mexico Women Org., KSFR radio, and The Girls ‘School Cornerstones. She serves on the non-profit committees of Video Volunteers in Goa, India, Arts Advisory for Miss Hall’s School in Massachusetts, and Vital Spaces in Santa Fe.

Joan has exhibited her photographs and photographic monotypes in galleries, mainly in Santa Fe and New York City. She was honored to be part of a “Seventy Women from Fifty Countries” exhibit at the United Nations, at which she showed her images of India’s female garbage workers.

Her memoir, The Magnolia Code, was published in June, 2020. It is a story of the mystery of belonging and the rules we adhere to or dismiss, with consequences for both. The book received the Distinguished Independent Press Award in the genre of memoir and was a finalist in the Arizona/New Mexico 2020 memoir category. She is currently working on a collection of short stories entitled The Swampyland.

Learn more at https://www.joanbrooksbaker.com/