"Elisabeth Sunday came from three generations of visual artists; her father Douglas Phillips, was a Cleveland based, stained glass window designer and her mother, Jane Spangler, an Oakland, California-based 3-dimensional and ceramic artist. But it wasn't until her grandfather, painter Paul B. Travis of Cleveland, gave her a camera at 15 that she began photographing and discovering her niche in a cluster of accomplished artists. Sunday had her first exhibition while still in high school in Oakland, and continued to photograph in college at Humboldt State University. After college, in 1980, Elisabeth Sunday moved to Paris for 4 years where she had a studio and studied the figure and portraiture.
Elisabeth Sunday’s interest in indigenous people extends back as far as she can remember; as a teen, she photographed Native Americans and was interested in isolated cultures like the Amish within the United States. Once she got to Paris in 1980, Sunday met people from all over and became fascinated by their faces. When she returned home in 1984, Elisabeth Sunday began photographing the Southwest and then in 1986 turned her attention to Africa where she continues to photograph today. Other places that have captivated her eye include, Southeast Asia, Australia and Micronesia.
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