ABOUT
BIO
Adair Freeman Rutledge is a photographic artist based in Seattle, WA. Originally from Alabama, her photography work questions enduring traditions and underscores tensions between cultural practices and modern realities. Through a curious and feminist lens, she examines how American customs influence expectations for our youth, shape gender roles, and impact racial stereotypes.
Adair’s photography has been commissioned by brands like Amazon, John Deere, Brooks Running, and Lands' End, among others. Her fine art work has been featured on NPR, Fraction Magazine and Lenscratch, and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Seattle Art Museum's 2019 Betty Bowen Award (finalist), CENTER Santa Fe's Editor's Choice Award and most recently Photo Lucida's Critical Mass Top 50. She has exhibited her work at institutions including the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA, the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Bainbridge, WA, and Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR. She also teaches at the Photographic Center Northwest and Cornish College of the Arts.
Adair is also a mother of two baby cheetahs whom she co-parents with her husband.
Photo Credit: Natalie Krick
CV
Education
Post Baccalaureate Certificate, Photography, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Graphic Design, Auburn University
Honors/Grants
2025
Do Good Fund Fellowship
2024
PCNW Being Present Exhibition, Juror's Award
2023
Critical Mass, Photo Lucida, Top 50
2020
Julia Margaret Cameron Award, 1st Place, "Women Seen by Women" Category
American Photography 36, Selected Award Winner
2019
Seattle Art Museum, Betty Bowen Award Finalist
Photographic Center Northwest's "22nd Juried Exhibition" Honorable Mention
2018
International Photography Awards, 1st Place Winner, “Field Sports” Category
International Photography Awards, Honorable Mention, “Deeper Perspective” Category
CENTER’s Editor’s Choice Award, 1st Place
Critical Mass, Photo Lucida, Top 200 Finalist
CDS/Honickman First Book Prize Finalist, Center for Documentary Studies, Duke
The FENCE, National Winner
Review Santa Fe Scholarship Recipient, CENTER Santa Fe
American Photography 34, Selected award winner
2017
Critical Mass, Photo Lucida, Top 200 Finalist
American Photography 33, Selected award winner
Review Santa Fe, Top 100 Artists
2010
Arts at the Airport Honorarium
Exhibitions
2025
"The Royals," Chatwin Gallery, Seattle, WA (2 person show)
"Vision(ary)," featuring "The Royals," Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA
"Under the Same Moon," The Hedreen Gallery, Seattle University, Seattle, WA
2024
"Cornish Art Dpt Faculty Exhibition," Behnke Gallery, Seattle, WA
"Alone Together: Critical Mass 2023 Top 50," Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, CO
2023
"2023 Pacific Northwest Drawers Exhibition," Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR
2020
"Female in Focus," Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO
"2020 Pacific Northwest Drawers," Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR
"Feminine/Masculine," PH21 Photography Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
2019
"Face First," Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Bainbridge, WA (through spring, 2020)
"Women's Stories, (Untold)," Midwest Center for Photography, Wichita, KS
"22nd Juried Exhibition," Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA
"Picture Your Story," A collaboration between Central Arts Sanctuary & The Do Good Fund, Mobile, AL
2018/19
“Currents 2018,” Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA
“The Fence: A Public Art Exhibit,” United Photo Industries, Traveling Exhibition:
Brooklyn, Boston, Atlanta, Santa Fe, Durham, Denver, Calgary, Houston, and Sarasota
“Full Circle: 2018 CENTER Award Winners,” Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, Boone, NC
2006-2010
“The Arcade Project,” Arts at the Airport - Flying Solo Exhibition, Nashville Internat'l Airport
“The Arcade Project,” Group show, The Rymer Gallery, Nashville, TN
“Tennessee Art League ASMP Photo Exhibition,” Nashville, TN
“Alabama Photo Book Project,” Traveling Exhibition
“Emerging Nashville Photographers,” The Arts Company Gallery, Nashville, TN
Selected Clients, Publications, and Press
ABC Networks, Amazon, American Songwriter Magazine, APhotoEditor, Brooks Running, Buzzfeed News, Country Weekly, Fraction Magazine, Frankie Magazine, Hospital Corporation of America, John Deere, Lands’ End, Lenscratch, NPR, Oxford American, Real Change, Sunset Magazine, UVA Children’s Hospital, Weight Watchers