Bio

Debe Arlook is an award-winning American artist working in photography. She majored in Visual Communications and minored in Psychology at American University, Washington D.C. After graduating, Arlook drove across the country to become a film director in Hollywood, California. Her progressing career turned into a long hiatus, otherwise known as motherhood. Years later, she rediscovered still photography, became devoted to personal growth and meditation, and became a life coach and speaker. 

Arlook’s conceptual and documentary work is a response to her surroundings and the larger environment. Her projects depict the inner and outer worlds of human relationships, informed by her studies in filmmaking, psychology and spiritual practices. She exhibits in festivals, and solo and group exhibitions throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia including the Lishui Art Museum, Photo London, Indian Photo Festival, Lancaster Museum of Art & History, Griffin Museum of Photography, Center for Photographic Art, and Foley Gallery.  

Arlook has been recognized for her ongoing “one, one thousand…” project with Photolucida Critical Mass TOP 50 2022, Critical Mass Finalist 2021, CENTER Social Award Honorable Mention 2022, LensCulture Summer Open, and others. A five-month solo exhibition at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Center for Bioethics and Humanities includes 46 prints.

Her photographs have been featured in numerous magazines including Strange Fire, Feature Shoot, Lenscratch, Frames Magazine, Fraction Magazine, L’Oeil de la Photographie, Rangefinder, Shots Magazine, What Will You Remember, and One Twelve Publishing. Books include California Love, Perceive Me, and Emptiness Defined, and the upcoming Memory Orchards.  

In addition to her studio practice, Arlook is on the teaching roster at the Los Angeles Center of Photography and John C. Campbell Folk School. She is a Pasadena Photography Arts Advisor and PhotoBook Journal contributing editor and resource manager. Arlook transitioned from the darkroom to inkjet printing and founded Arlook Printing Services in 2016, where she provides project consultation and archival printing for fine art photographers. Her studio is in Santa Monica, California.