Lauren Shaw received her MFA in photography from the Rhode Island School of Design where she studied with Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind. Tenured Professor at Emerson College, Department of Visual and Media Arts; 52 years. Co-founder of New England Women in Photography and Co-chaired the National Conference in 1997. Recipient of two National Endowment Regional Grants, 10 Faculty Advancement Fund Grants, and the Excellence in Photographic Teaching Award from the Santa Fe Center for Photography.

Her recent book dummy Traces of Impermanence was nominated for the Star Book Dummy Award, 2024. Lucy Lippard has written the introduction essay.

Her work has been exhibited widely throughout the United States, and is in the collection of the J Paul Getty Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Fogg Museum, Harvard University, High Museum, Atlanta, Art Institute of Chicago, Newark Museum, Farnsworth Museum, Library of Congress, Museo de Art de Lima. Her photographic installation, book and film, Maine Women: Living on the Land exhibited at the Farnsworth Museum, Rockland Maine and has traveled to 12 venues throughout the United States. Maine Women: Living on the Land was published in 2005 to accompany the exhibition. Lucy Lippard has written the introduction essay.

Her films include, Maine Women: Living on the Land, 2006, A Drop in the Bucket, 2010, Angkor’s Children, 2014, If They Had Known, 2016, About John, 2019, Routine Interrupted 2022. They have screened at film festivals, Public Television, and educational institutions as well as the Smithsonian and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Her films have garnered great reviews and won awards throughout the United States and abroad.