Trent Davis Bailey is an American artist and photographer born and based in Colorado. Bailey’s work has been exhibited and published nationally and internationally, and it is held in the permanent collections of the Denver Art Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP), among others. He is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including 2024 and 2025 Working Assumptions project grants, a 2019 Film Photo Award, the 2015 Snider Prize from the MoCP, and a 2014 Magnum Foundation grant. His work has been featured and reviewed in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Photo District News, among others. Bailey’s photographs—often described as cinematic, coloristic, and atmospheric—have regularly appeared in publications such as The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, and T Magazine. He has taught photography at a number of institutions including the University of Colorado Denver and the California College of the Arts. His first book, The North Fork, was published by Trespasser (Austin, Texas, USA) in 2023. His second book, Son Pictures, published by Chose Commune (Marseille, France), is due for release in June 2026.
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The North Fork, FotoFocus Cincinnati, Rosewood Arts Center, Kettering, Ohio, 2026 (Forthcoming)
The North Fork, Blue Sky, Oregon Center for Photographic Arts, Portland, Oregon, June 4 - 27, 2026
Son Pictures, Langhe Photo Festival, Neive, Italy, July 6 - November 2, 2025
The North Fork, Personal Geographies: Trent Davis Bailey | Brian Adams, Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado, July 31, 2023 - February 11, 2024
The North Fork, Encontros da Imagem, Monastery of São Martinho de Tibães, Braga, Portugal, September 11 - October 31, 2020
The North Fork, Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco, California, September 8 - November 26, 2016
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2026 Set the Table, Dairy Arts Center, Boulder, Colorado (Forthcoming)
2026 MoCP at Fifty: Collecting Through the Decades, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, Illinois2025 Narrative Implied, Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco, California
2025 Even Distance, Preacher Gallery, Austin, Texas2024 Trespasser, Kominek Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2024 On the Shelf, Filter Photo, Filter Space, Chicago, Illinois
2024 Divergent Landscapes, Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco, California2023 Ate, Gatewood Gallery, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, North Carolina
2023 Developing Story, Cassilhaus, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
2023 On View, Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco, California2022 Visage: Face with a View, Cassilhaus, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
2020 The Future of Now, Emmanuel Art Gallery, University of Colorado, Denver, Colorado
2020 Rocky Mountain Biennial, Museum of Art Fort Collins, Fort Collins, Colorado
2020 Portraits Without People, Axis Gallery, Verge Center for the Arts, Sacramento, California2018 Human Impact on Landscape and Living Spaces, Fine Art Galerie and Kunstverein, Traismauer, Austria
2018 Unexpected Affinities, Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco, California
2018 Thinly Veiled, Cassilhaus, Chapel Hill, North Carolina2017 Grow-Conserve, Somerset House, London, United Kingdom
2017 PHOTOFAIRS, Robert Koch Gallery, Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture, San Francisco, California2016 Paris Photo, Robert Koch Gallery, Grand Palais, Paris, France
2016 Alma Mater, CCA Hubble Street Galleries, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, California
2016 The Photography Show at AIPAD, Robert Koch Gallery, Park Avenue Armory, New York, New York
2016 EXPO Chicago, Robert Koch Gallery, Navy Pier, Chicago, Illinois2015 Paris Photo, Robert Koch Gallery, Grand Palais, Paris, France
2015 EXPO Chicago, Robert Koch Gallery, Navy Pier, Chicago, Illinois
2015 Wheaton Biennial, Beard & Weil Galleries, Wheaton College, Norton, Massachusetts
2015 More Than One Way, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, California
2015 MFA Now, Root Division, San Francisco, California2014 Reimagining Progress, David Brower Center, Berkeley, California
2014 Piedmont Center for the Arts, Piedmont, California
2014 Home, Gray Loft Gallery, Oakland, California
2014 Textualized, PLAySPACE Gallery, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, California
2014 Generation, Some Thing Spacious, Oakland, California
2014 LOOKbetween, LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph, Charlottesville, Virginia2013 The Human Impact: New Directions in Landscape Photography, Book & Job Gallery, San Francisco, California
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Cassilhaus Collection
Denver Art Museum
Museum of Contemporary Photography -
Son Pictures, Chose Commune, Marseille, France, June 2026 (Forthcoming)
The North Fork, Trespasser, Austin, Texas, USA, October 2023 -
2025 Grant Recipient, Working Assumptions Alumni Project Grant, Working Assumptions, Berkeley, California
2024 Grant Recipient, Working Assumptions Project Grant, Working Assumptions, Berkeley, California
2023 Artist-in-Residence, Brooklyn Darkroom, Brooklyn, New York
2018 Contemplative Practice Fellowship, Hemera Foundation, in partnership with Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center, Tusas Mountains, New Mexico
2017 Contemplative Practice Fellowship, Hemera Foundation, in partnership with Spirit Rock, Woodacre, California
2016 Artist-in-Residence, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, Colorado
2015 Artist-in-Residence, Elsewhere Studios, Paonia, Colorado
2014 Grant Recipient and Mentee, Laying Foundations for Change, The Atlantic Philanthropies Grant, Magnum Foundation, New York, New York
2014 Grant Recipient, Student Travel Grant, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, California -
2025 Hariban Award, Benrido Collotype Atelier, Honorable Mention
2025 Langhe Photo Prize, Langhe Photo Festival, 3º Premio
2023 Lucie Photo Book Prize, Lucie Foundation, Finalist
2020 Discovery Awards, Encontros Da Imagem, Finalist
2019 New Project Award, Film Photo Award, in partnership with Kodak Professional and Griffin Editions
2016 J.P. Morgan Curator’s Highlights, Paris Photo
2015 Snider Prize, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College Chicago
2014 First Prize, John P. Thornborrow Memorial Trust, Piedmont Center for the Arts
2010 Dean’s Award, University of Colorado Boulder -
2026 FotoFocus, Cincinnati, Ohio (Forthcoming)
2025 Langhe Photo Festival, Neive, Italy
2024 Filter Photo, Chicago, Illinois, USA
2020 Encontros da Imagem, Braga, Portugal
2017 PHOTOFAIRS, Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture, San Francisco, California, USA
2016 Paris Photo, Grand Palais, Paris, France
2016 EXPO Chicago, Navy Pier, Chicago, Illinois, USA
2016 The Photography Show at AIPAD, Park Avenue Armory, New York, New York, USA
2015 Paris Photo, Grand Palais, Paris, France
2015 EXPO Chicago, Navy Pier, Chicago, Illinois, USA
2014 LOOKbetween, LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA -
Pellen, Guénola, “In Images: Trent Davis Bailey, A Son Without a Mother,”
Blind, June 10, 2026Adams, Andy, “Show & Tell: Trent Davis Bailey | A photographer considers how we remember the past,”
FlakPhoto, December 21, 2024Slup, Karolina, “Book Bliss: On melancholy, madness, and dreams,”
Contemporary Lynx, February 14, 2024Karas, Makenna, “Review: Trent Davis Bailey & Brian Adams: Personal Geographies,”
Musée Magazine, December 12, 2023Goldstein, Stephen Ross, “Review: The North Fork,”
Arcanite Pictures, December 7, 2023Spring, Elin and Revy, Suzanne, "Our Favorite Photobooks of 2023,"
What Will You Remember?, November 28, 2023Bailey, Spencer, ”Trent Davis Bailey on Finding Family and Community Through Photography,”
Time Sensitive, The Slowdown, September 27, 2023Meyers, William, “‘Personal Geographies: Trent Davis Bailey | Brian Adams’ Review: Connecting With a Camera,”
The Wall Street Journal, New York, New York, September 6, 2023Chrastina, Hyde, “Denver Art Museum’s New Photography Exhibit, Personal Geographies, Invites Us to Slow Down,"
Westword, Denver, Colorado, July 26, 2023“What a Motherless Son Knows About Fatherhood,”
The New York Times, Opinion Section, New York, New York, June 16, 2023“A refuge in the North Fork,”
High Country News, June Issue, 2023Mason, David, “Holding Space in the High Desert,”
HAMAM, Dedication Issue, 2020Moses, Linda, ”Interview: Trent Davis Bailey,”
Film Photo Award, February 21, 2020Kolesnichenko, Darya, "Flash Fiction: Green House,"
Musée Magazine, January 17, 2020Schneider, Anna, "'The North Fork' by Photographer Trent Davis Bailey,"
Booooooom, September 18, 2019Walker, David, "Squeezing Water Out of Dust,"
Photo District News, May Issue, 2018, pp. 8-11McKenna, Klea and Bailey, Trent Davis, “The Heaviness of Memory: Unpacking Personal Archives,”
spot Magazine, Houston Center for Photography, Spring Issue, 2017, pp. 26-35Stone, Bryony, "Photographer Trent Davis Bailey documents rural American community The North Fork,"
It's Nice That, February 17, 2017Hunt, W.M., "San Francisco Treat by the Unseen Eye,"
L'oeil de la Photographie, February 6, 2017Ferri, Graziano, "Americana — Trent Davis Bailey Rediscovers the Valley in Colorado He Used to Visit as a Child,"
FotoRoom, December 7, 2016Kail, Ellyn, "The Beauty and Timelessness of Rural Colorado,"
VICE, November 22, 2016Duffy, Tyson, "The Photographic Alphabet: N is for The North Fork,"
Musée Magazine, November 9, 2016Kraft, Coralie, “Feature: The North Fork - Photographs by Trent Davis Bailey,”
LensCulture, November 7, 2016Fu, Joanna, "经历之后, 看见故乡,"
CITY ZINE China, November Issue, pp. 113-119Gallagher, Tim, "Journey of Discovery,"
Sioux City Journal, Sioux City, Iowa, July 13, 2016, pp. A1, A5Boshernitsan, Rimma, "On Brotherhood & Creativity,"
DIALOGUE, May 30, 2016 -
Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, Colorado, 2016 and 2017
Blue Sky, Oregon Center for Photography, Portland, Oregon, 2026
Cassilhaus, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 2022
California College of the Arts, Oakland, California, 2015 and 2016
Corcoran School of Arts and Design at George Washington University, Washington, D.C., 2024 and 2025
Dairy Arts Center, Boulder, Colorado, 2026
Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado, 2023
FotoFilmic, Bowen Island, Vancouver, British Colombia, 2021 and 2022
Photobook Austin, Austin Community College, Highland Campus, Austin, Texas, 2023
Root Division, San Francisco, California, 2014
Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, California, 2020
Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California, 2020
University of Colorado, College of Arts and Media, Denver, Colorado, 2022
Visual Supply Company Headquarters (VSCO HQ), Oakland, California, 2016 -
2020 - 2023 Adjunct Lecturer, Undergraduate Photography, University of Colorado Denver, College of Arts and Media
2017 Guest Faculty, Photography & New Media, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, Colorado
2016 - 2017 Adjunct Lecturer, Undergraduate Photography, California College of the Arts
2014 Teaching Assistant for Abner Nolan, Undergraduate Photography, California College of the Arts
2010 - 2013 Teaching Assistant for Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb, Brooklyn, New York -
2015 Master of Fine Arts, California College of the Arts
2009 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Studio Art, Photography, University of Colorado Boulder
2009 Bachelor of Arts, Art History, University of Colorado Boulder