Colleen Longo Collins (b. Santa Monica, California, 1980) is a photographic artist and archivist whose work explores feminine identity and the depth of her relationships with her subjects. Tracking their lives and environments for almost two decades, Longo Collins’ images are a record of time and the result of intimate collaboration. She works with traditional black-and-white photo processes and is heavily influenced by her memories of girlhood and the seductive nuances of womanhood. 

Longo Collins’ early interest in the visual arts was encouraged by her eccentric youth and a fascination with documenting childhood girlfriends on a Nikon 35mm camera. After a move from Los Angeles to Alameda, California as a young girl, Longo Collins earned a Bachelor in Studio Arts from Cal Poly Humboldt in Arcata, California and a Master of Fine Arts from Pratt University in Brooklyn, New York. 

For years afterward, Longo Collins documented a close circle of girlfriends—“muses”—in their dwellings across the United States. Her efforts culminated in the 2006 exhibition Tenacious Nostalgia at the Steuben Gallery in Brooklyn, New York, and in 2023 she published a monograph of the same name. 

After receiving her MFA with honors from Pratt Institute, Longo Collins was selected by New York Times writer Michael Brenson to participate in a public symposium critiqued by David Levi-Strauss, David Cohen, and Donald Kuspit, where her work was described as “film noir meets modern nostalgia.” A longtime member of the Society for Photographic Education and College Art Association, she is passionate about teaching and collaboration and has co-led classes at the International Center of Photography, the School of Visual Arts, and Cal Poly Humboldt.

Longo Collins was an Artist-in-Residence at the Camera Club of New York and her works have been exhibited at Pratt Institute, Pine Manor College, Peer Gallery, Daniel Cooney Fine Art, P.S.122, Two Trees Gallery, and Hi-Fi, and published in Artscape Magazine, Shots Magazine, MonthlyPhoto, and Mexico’s Fahrenheit Magazine. She lives today in Oakland, California with her husband and two sons.