Through photography and drawing, my work explores awe, mystery, and transformation. I capture fleeting, ordinary moments in nature—the evening sky's light, an ocean wave's curve, or morning dew on a windowpane—then layer these images with hand-drawn marks.
The photographs serve as portals to natural wonder. I am interested in exploring how the quality of light, color, mark, and repetition impact how we feel. Through this work, I become fully absorbed in these moments. A slight perceptual shift can transform the familiar into something otherworldly.
Hand-drawn elements emerge through intuitive responses to each image, sometimes drawing inspiration from natural patterns like currents or wind, and other times from a desire to see specific colors or shapes combined with the photograph. Repeating the same image with varied drawings reveals the dynamic nature of our perception: we might encounter identical phenomena day after day, but experience them differently according to the state of our inner world.
Working this way embodies a broader tension I experience between control and surrender. As I layer photographs with hand-drawn marks, this internal experience between structure and letting go is revealed. The uncertainty can be uncomfortable, yet I am learning to balance my need for control and my desire to experience the unknown.
Artist and educator, Adina Segal, fell in love with photography in high school. Watching an image slowly emerge in the darkroom's warm glow was mesmerizing, sometimes surprising.
After earning a BFA from Washington University and an MFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York, she moved to California where she began working with children at The Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley. This experience inspired her to earn an MA in Education from UC Berkeley. While there, she produced Here I Am, an exhibition of her students' photographs and poems shown at The Museum of Children's Art in Oakland.
As a Teaching Artist and Site Leader for Philadelphia non-profit ArtWell, Adina has designed programs using photography and poetry to develop children's literacy, with student work exhibited at the Woodmere Museum and Moore College of Art.
In 2019, Adina resumed her personal art practice, working primarily in painting before returning to photography. Her work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions and commercial spaces. She has recently developed a photo and drawing-based series that layers captured images from the natural world with hand-drawn marks. Adina lives in Philadelphia with her husband and two sons.
2008
University of California, Berkeley, CA
Masters of Arts, Education
2003
School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
Master of Fine Arts, Photography and Related Media
1997
Washington University, St. Louis, MO
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Photography
Dean's List, Eliot Scholar
ArtWell, Philadelphia, PA
Teaching Artist and Site Leader
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
Visiting Professor
New York University, New York, NY
Visiting Professor
Teaching Artist and Site Leader, ArtWell, Philadelphia, PA
Visiting Professor, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
Visiting Professor, New York University, New York, NY
2025
Echoes of Elsewhere, Chimaera Gallery, Philadelphia, PA (three-person exhibition)
With or Without, Prism Arts Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2024
Circadian, Da Vinci Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA (three-person exhibition)
2024 Benefit Exhibition, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Art of Water, James May Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
2023
Otherworldly, Wellpoint, Philadelphia, PA
Spring Solo Series, Abington Art Center, Abington, PA
Art in the Park, The Dalian, Philadelphia, PA
2022
New Now V, InLiquid Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Idyll, InLiquid at The Yard, Philadelphia, PA
Works on Paper, LBIF Arts + Science, Long Beach Island, NJ
Juried by Esther Adler, Curator of Drawings and Prints at The Museum of Modern Art
CFEVA exhibition at The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
True Blue, Art Fluent, Boston, MA (online)
2021
Abstracted, Art Fluent, Boston, MA
Lumière, Art Fluent, Boston, MA
Emergence, Media Arts Council, Media, PA
2006
Joint Venture, Richard L. Nelson Gallery, University of California, Davis, CA
2003
Spaces, Worrell Photographs, New York, NY
Fresh Meat, CEPA Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Water, Tulla Booth Gallery, Sag Harbor, NY
Squint, Fish Tank Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2001
Working Artists, Silicon Gallery, Philadelphia, PA and Brooklyn, NY
1998
Summer Show, Vaknin Schwartz, Atlanta, GA
Expo 17, b.j. spoke gallery, Huntington, NY
Curator: Jane Adlin, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Photography '98, Stage Gallery, Merrick, NY
1997
PhotoSession, Allen's Lane Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
1996
Television Series Installation, Center for Photography, St. Louis, MO
Jurors Award, PhotoSession, Philadelphia, PA
Herb Weitman Award for Photography, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
