Some artists create images.
Others change the way we see.
In my conversation with artist and photographer Susan Evans Grove, we explored how photography can become a tool for awareness, reflection, and environmental consciousness.
Working from her studio at ART150 in Jersey City, Susan creates photographs that examine our relationship with technology, consumerism, nature, and the changing environment. Through still lifes, landscapes, and carefully constructed compositions, her work encourages viewers to slow down and reconsider the world around them.
Finding Photography
Interestingly, Susan did not initially plan to become an artist.
Coming from a family rooted in mathematics and engineering, she originally studied psychology in college before discovering photography almost by accident. When a boyfriend handed her a camera during her freshman year, everything changed.
“When I put it up to my eye, I thought this is what I’ve been doing without knowing it.”
That moment ultimately led her to attend the School of Visual Arts in New York City and begin a lifelong commitment to making art.
The Courage to Follow a Different Path
Like many artists, Susan faced skepticism when she chose a creative career.
Her parents worried about practical concerns and long-term employment, concerns many artists hear throughout their lives. Yet she remained committed to her practice, understanding that art would likely exist alongside other work rather than replace it entirely.
Decades later, that commitment continues to shape her career.
A New Chapter at ART150
One of the most significant shifts in Susan’s practice occurred after moving into her studio at ART150.
For the first time, she had the space to leave works in progress untouched for extended periods, revisit ideas, and experiment with more complex setups. This change led her back to a genre she hadn’t explored since art school: the still life.
Today, many of her most compelling works begin with carefully constructed tabletop arrangements that evolve over multiple days of observation and refinement.
Technology, Consumption, and Electronic Waste
A major focus of Susan’s recent work examines electronic waste and society’s relationship with technology.
Drawing inspiration from Dutch still-life paintings of the seventeenth century, she creates contemporary compositions featuring discarded electronics, circuit boards, screens, and other technological remnants. These objects become modern symbols of wealth, consumption, and status.
Just as wealthy merchants once commissioned paintings filled with oysters, silverware, and imported goods, today’s culture often celebrates the newest phone, tablet, or device.
Susan’s work asks an important question:
What happens when those objects become obsolete?
Beauty and Mortality
One of the works we discussed combined flowers with electronic components, creating a striking visual contrast between nature and technology.
While the piece addresses electronic waste, it also touches on something more universal: mortality.
The inclusion of living and decaying flowers creates a reminder that everything changes, everything ages, and nothing lasts forever. Susan explained that personal experiences with loss have also influenced her interest in these themes.
What emerges is a body of work that is simultaneously beautiful, unsettling, and deeply reflective.
Climate Change and the Environment
Environmental concerns run throughout Susan’s practice.
Many of her projects explore the consequences of climate change, consumer behavior, and humanity’s tendency to view nature primarily through the lens of utility.
One series emerged after experiencing a dangerous storm while boating near Sandy Hook. Confronted by the overwhelming force of nature, Susan began reflecting on humanity’s illusion of control and our complicated relationship with the environment.
Those reflections eventually evolved into photographic works documenting weathered landscapes and evidence of nature’s ongoing transformation.
Learning to See Differently
Perhaps the most powerful idea that emerged during our conversation was the importance of perception.
Susan spoke about spending her life learning to see the world the way a camera sees it. In doing so, she has developed a heightened awareness of details, compositions, and perspectives that often go unnoticed.
Her goal is not necessarily to make viewers see exactly what she sees.
Instead, she hopes they begin to see differently.
To slow down.
To notice.
To question.
To reconsider.
And perhaps most importantly, to become more aware of the world they inhabit.
Looking Ahead
As Susan continues to develop new still-life series and environmental projects, her work remains grounded in curiosity and observation.
Through photography, she invites viewers to examine the systems, habits, and assumptions that shape modern life.
Whether addressing climate change, consumer culture, technology, or mortality, her images remind us that perspective changes everything.
Sometimes all it takes is looking a little closer.
Listen to the full conversation with Susan Evans Grove on Tarik Talk, where we discuss photography, environmental awareness, climate change, electronic waste, artistic process, and the importance of seeing the world differently. This episode was recorded at ART150 (150 Bay Street, Jersey City).
About Tarik Talk
Tarik Talk is an international arts and culture podcast hosted by artist Tarik Mendes. Through conversations with artists, designers, curators, museum professionals, entrepreneurs, and cultural leaders from around the world, the podcast explores creativity, career journeys, contemporary art, and the ideas shaping today’s cultural landscape. Since its launch in Jersey City, New Jersey, Tarik Talk has featured more than 200 episodes across 50 seasons, highlighting voices from museums, galleries, artist studios, art fairs, and cultural institutions around the world.
Since its launch in Jersey City, New Jersey, Tarik Talk has featured more than 200 episodes across 50 seasons, highlighting voices from museums, galleries, artist studios, art fairs, and cultural institutions around the world.
Inside museums, studios, and conversations with artists worldwide.