Jordan A. Porter-Woodruff, 32 is born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. She currently works for the University of Chicago Medicine as the staff photographer and digital multimedia specialist. She originally started off as a marketing communications specialist writing consumer friendly medical articles until she made her transition to photography in mid 2019.
This event was the spark to her first photo series and blog The Artists Feature (TAF). TAF is a collection of artist profiles accompanied by a photograph of them in a vulnerable or meaningful space. The profiles range from Bisa Butler and Nick Cave to local Chicago artists such as Kayla Mahaffey and Delisha McKinney. These photos are what led to Jordan’s first solo show Portraits: An Intimate View at Epiphany Center for the Arts.
Porter-Woodruff is now still concentrating on portraits; but from a different vantage point. Her new series Portraits: Working Hands highlights how in life we specifically use our hands on a day to day basis and put them through a lot of work. They’re arguably the most paramount piece of our bodies in conjunction to human creation and evolution.
Porter-Woodruff is now photographing the hands of people in various vocations such as a hairstylist, chef and musician. She sees this as an ongoing project with limitless possibilities. The most fascinating part she has discovered is how each photographs premise is the same, yet the results are always different.