Lauren Shaw received her MFA in photography from the Rhode Island School of Design where she studied with Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind. She is tenured Professor at Emerson College, Department of Visual and Media Arts. Co-founder of New England Women in Photography and Co-chaired the National Conference in 1997. Recipient of two National Endowment Regional Grants, 10 Faculty Advancement Fund Grants, and the Excellence in Photographic Teaching Award from the Santa Fe Center for Photography.

Her work has been exhibited widely throughout the United States, and is in photographic collections at the: Getty Museum, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Fogg Museum, Harvard University, High Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Newark Museum, Farnsworth Museum, and the Library of Congress. Her photographic installation, book, and film: Maine Women: Living on the Land exhibited at the Farnsworth Museum, Rockland Maine and has traveled to twelve venues throughout the United States. Maine Women: Living on the Land was published in 2005 to accompany the exhibition. Lucy Lippard has written the introduction essay.

Her films include, Maine Women: Living on the Land, 2006, A Drop in the Bucket, 2010, Angkor’s Children, 2014, If They Had Known, 2016, About John, 2019, and Routine Interrupted, 2022. They have screened at festivals and educational institutions as well as the Smithsonian and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Her films have garnered great reviews and won awards throughout the United States.