Vanessa Filley was born in New York City in 1975.  She received her BA from Oberlin College and spent her early career investigating human rights violations in prisons and jails.  Instead of following her intention to go to law school, she founded a clothing company of one of a kind wear made from recycled fabrics. Her practice quickly evolved through the honing of her craft into mixed-media fine arts. Her work ranges from large scale sculptural installations to tiny embroidery pieces to poems and photographs.  Her photographic work allows her to designs scenes, make costumes and conjure a certain sense of emotion and place. She is inspired by how history and memory shapes who we are in the present. In June of 2018 she completed a two month residency at the Frances Willard House Museum. She has been showing work, and has won a number of juror’s awards, throughout the US and internationally since 2015. In 2016 she was one of Photolucida’s Top 200. In 2018 she was one of Photolucida’s Top 50. She lives and works in Evanston, Il.