Melissa O’Shaughnessy was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she studied journalism and art history. She took up photography after working as a book editor. She now lives and works in New York City.
Melissa’s work is full of colour, texture, movement. Her images capture a sense of calmness from the chaos that surrounds her on the streets.
Her work is included in Bystander: A History of Street Photography, and most recently Reclaim the Street: Street Photography Moment, and has been featured in an extensive number of local and international exhibitions.
In 2020, she published her first monograph, Perfect Strangers: New York City Street Photographs.
She is a member of UP Photographers, a non-profit collective of 26 photographers from around the global