Aby Joyner - About

Aby May Joyner is a photographer and writer raised in Massachusetts whose work explores the connection between people, place, and feeling. She pairs poetry and photography to capture human emotion.

She is the author of Delicate Perspectives (2023) and Womanhood Elucidated (2024), collections that center on girlhood, identity, and the complexity of women’s lives, built through real conversations and portraits of people she meets. Her forthcoming book, Where The Root Speaks, follows her journey across New England as she visits the homes of influential poets, using both photography and poetry to find where inspiration comes from and the meaning behind place.

Her work has received a Scholastic Gold Key, the SSA Award, and the Kendrick Award, among many other accolades. She is a member of Washington and Lee University’s Class of 2028, majoring in Strategic Communications and Creative Writing and minoring in Studio Art.

At W&L, she works as a photographer for Communications and Public Affairs and contributes to InGeneral Magazine, creating visual work that tells stories about people and community. She interned at Shenandoah Magazine, where she evaluated poetry, copy edited submissions, and helped run the 75th-anniversary event. She is also the founder and president of the Poetry Club, where she leads workshops and creates space for others to write, learn, discuss, and grow.

Her process is rooted in attention. She practices slowing down, talking to people, and noticing small moments. She often approaches strangers or nature, listens to them, photographs them, and then writes about them.

Creating art in both New England and the American South, Joyner's work is grounded in presence and connection. Her goal is to make people feel something real and encourage them to live fully in the ever-so-fleeting now.

“Aby May Joyner is both map maker and traveling bard… an atlas of sight and feeling, vision and yet-deeper vision.”
— Leah Naomi Green, Poet

“One can easily recognize in Aby’s portraits that her subjects trust her completely… her work reveals something deeper than surface appearances.”
— David Oxton, Photographer

“Joyner creates a combined art form… capturing a moment or a person and their essence.”
— Laura Lemon, Writer & Editor