Jordan A. Porter-Woodruff (b. 1991) is a Chicago-born fine art photographer. She currently serves as the staff photographer at the University of Chicago Medicine (UCM).
Her work at UCM—particularly photographing surgical procedures—has helped shape her artistic inquiry. Time spent in operating rooms catalyzed an ongoing investigation into the brain-hand relationship and the functional capacities of the hand.
This line of inquiry informs her ongoing series, Working Hands, which examines the powerful relationship between consciousness, the hand, and the human experience.
In pursuit of deeper meaning, Porter-Woodruff participated in a three-week residency with the Muholi Art Institute in South Africa in 2026 under the leadership of Zanele Muholi. Traveling through Johannesburg, Cape Town, and the Western Cape, the experience expanded her fascination with how multiple realities can exist within a single moment or image.
Now thinking beyond the physical actions that create the human experience – Porter-Woodruff is fascinated with how our viewpoints, histories and identities are the source of our realities – which connect and disconnect us from shared understanding.
Through composition, her images seek to build narrative that invites viewers to consider the interplay between presence, identity, and the unseen forces that shape human experience.
Mood swings, ‘26, 22×14