Shanta Lee Gander

About Me

Artist's Statement

"I love extending an invitation into my world and passions through my photography, poetry, and prose. Across my broad range of skills, I most appreciate surfacing the unseen.

What is someone's story under the surface of their face and presentation? What is forgotten to human memory that should be reclaimed? Or, most simply, how can I share the sense or soul of a place with someone who may not ever travel there?

I have an endless hunger to ask questions, create conversation through visual or written commentary, and journey into the unknown through my various creative endeavors or collaborations. Even if what I unearth through some of these adventures scare me."

Shanta Lee Gander

Photo credit: Chinue Clifford

Bio

Shanta Lee's work reaches from her art to her multi-faceted professional life which encompasses leadership, community engagement, PR/marketing, and translating vision into reality.

Her creative life includes writing prose, poetry, investigative journalism, and photography. Shanta Lee is the co-author with her husband MacLean C. Gander of Ghosts of Cuba: An Interracial Couple’s Exploration of Cuba in the Age of Trump—Told in Images & Words (in manuscript).

Shanta Lee has an MBA from the University of Hartford and an undergraduate degree in Women, Gender and Sexuality from Trinity College. She is currently the Director of Publicity and Outreach atMount Island—a small press and magazine dedicated to rural LGBTQ+and POC voices/artists and gives lectures on the life of Lucy Terry Prince as a member of the VermontHumanities Council Speakers Bureau. Shanta Lee is currently completing her MFA in Creative Non-Fiction and Poetry at the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

She has brought her passions together as a collaborator and creative engine for projects such as the implementation of the city-wide Visioning a Healthier New Haven campaign which included a digital storytelling component and data collection; curation of small -large scale events incorporating the Giving Women Power Over AIDS traveling exhibition; launching a creativity forums series, Healing with Art and Nourishing the Inner Artist: Conversations about Art, Creativity, and Imagination; and co-curator for the "I AM..." exhibition in collaboration with the Vermont Arts Council; and as a PR consultant with several individual artists.

Shanta Lee enjoys collaborating with her husband, finding new abandoned places to explore, and her taste in books is as broad as her musical appreciation. Anything from Gregorian chants or Vivaldi to Queen, Led Zeppelin, and A$AP Rocky can be found on her playlist.

Photo credits
Top main photo: MacLean Charles Gander
Bio picture featuring MacLean & Shanta Lee Gander:
Mike Conley