Meet Our Artists
Rachael Thompson
Rachael Thompson is a photographer, former print journalist, and the founder of Stolen Butter. But above all, she is a lifelong storyteller with an insatiable curiosity and unending passion for documenting and understanding the truth of our lived experiences.
Thompson’s art blossoms from the overlapping narratives of her life, where she crafts indelible images from fleeting moments that reveal our humanity, who we are, and how we live. Her foundations in journalism — and her wanderlust — are evident in her work. She immerses herself in each place she visits, capturing the essence of its people, its culture and its terrain as she explores the unknown, feeling everything along each journey.
Thompson’s photographs have been published in the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, People, Hollywood Reporter, and on book covers, album covers, billboards, and posters. In 2021, she founded Stolen Butter to amplify the voices of her fellow artists. She lives in Santa Monica, California, with her husband and daughter.
Chris Kridler
Chris Kridler is a photographer, author and storm chaser who has traveled to the Great Plains every spring for more than 25 years to capture nature’s spectacles. Her obsession with storms is fueled by her need to preserve ephemeral, beautiful and powerful moments that will never exist again and the freedom she feels roaming Tornado Alley in search of awesomely bad weather.
Kridler, a former journalist, also photographs rocket launches and lightning near her home on Florida’s Space Coast, where thunderstorms provide electric subjects for her sky photography. Her work has been featured in the Journal of Meteorology and the New York Times, and on book covers, including the Wallace and Hobbs Atmospheric Science textbook. She was profiled in Popular Photography and has been interviewed about her storm-chasing experiences on TV, radio and podcasts.
Kridler is also an award-winning filmmaker and the author of the Storm Seekers adventure book series and other mystery and romance novels under the pen name Lucy Lakestone. When she’s not working, she enjoys walking her crazy little dogs and sipping craft cocktails with her husband in their home bar. Learn more at ChrisKridler.com.
Fernanda Rocha
Fernanda Rocha is a photographic artist who challenges visual perspectives and rules by using graphic elements to flatten and abstract the reality that she sees. These elements are sometimes playful and sometimes disconcerting. Most importantly, they add unexpected depth and meaning to her work.
Fernanda grew up in Brazil and has been based in the United States for the past 20 years. She has lived in London, and spent several months in India and, most recently, Portugal. Most of her professional experience involved the production of photography for magazines, books, newspapers, and advertising. She currently lives in Portland, Oregon. Learn more at fernandarochaphoto.com.
Gonzalo Adrian Battaglia
Gonzalo Adrian Battaglia is a comic book author and illustrator, painter and performance artist who explores a broad array of subjects through his mastery of multiple media. Classically trained, Battaglia harnesses his deep knowledge of art history to inform his methods, such as carving linoleum blocks to create prints portraying whimsical, wry and often bold themes. He often draws inspiration from the cartoons, movies, video games, and comics that permeate popular culture in both Latin America and the U.S.
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Battaglia immigrated to Miami with his family in the 1980s, where he later established himself among South Florida’s tight-knit and innovative community of artists. He earned a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts and a Master’s in Education from Florida International University. He teaches art in Miami, Florida, where he lives with his wife and two children.
Alexander Lombardi
Decades ago, Alex Lombardi picked up a Canon AE-1 loaded with Ilford HP5 and took a photograph of a duck. The duck is surely dead by now, but Mr. Lombardi is still photographing. For now. His unique framing and perspective is highly informed by his deep, deep fear of social interaction. He currently lives in Dublin, Ireland, with his wife and daughter.
Denny Fanning
Denny Fanning was in his 20s and living in Chicago when he became obsessed with street photography. He would walk for hours on end, exploring the city and patiently waiting for interesting faces and scenes to reveal themselves — scenes that he believed were visible only to him through his viewfinder.
He still sees these subliminal moments happening all around him, and it’s his goal to save as many of these moments as he can. His neighborhood may have changed (fewer skylines and more palm trees), but his passion for capturing it remains.
Fanning lives in Santa Monica, California, with his wife, two daughters, and an energetic Mini-Australian Shepherd.