About Film Fawn

Mercy Nelson, AKA Film Fawn, is a photographer and artist inspired by the seemingly mundane moments of life. Driven by how those moments can be transformed through alternative film processes into a magical, surreal, dream induced world. Layering and alternative film processes are at the heart of their practice, from film souping, to cyanotype, to embroidery and watercolor on polaroid emulsion lifts,  it’s about exploration and experimentation, It’s about the contrast of controlled process (framing a composition in the viewfinder) against the magic of the uncontrolled (souping film).

Nelson was born, raised, and spent the majority of her life living and creating in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. In the beginning of 2024 they felt a need to leave the comfortable and familiar and drove down to Santa Fe, New Mexico where they currently live with their dog, Toki. In South Dakota, Mercy was inspired by the mundane and using analog photography and strange processes to create a more magical version of the world they lived in. Currently, she is inspired by the flora and fauna of the high desert, and especially the clouds.

Nelson went to school at USD and studied traditional photographic processes under John Banasiak and has been head over heels in love with film photography ever since. Their use of mixed media combined with a wealth of alternative photographic techniques challenges the viewers’ ideas of what fine art photography can be. Galleries across South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa have exhibited her work over the years and she’s now showing a piece in Foto Forum of Santa Fe. They have also been featured in 605 magazine and was featured in a list of LGBTQIA+ film photographers on Analog Forever Magazine’s website.

Teaching and sharing the magic (and science) of film photography is another one of Mercy's passions, and they started the South Dakota Film Photographers group in Sioux Falls to build and foster community and love for analog photography. Now, they have started the Santa Fe Film Club to try and do the same in their new home. Eventually once she’s more settled in her new home, Mercy would like to teach workshops on Cyanotypes, film processing, and polaroid emulsion lifts among other techniques.