Press, Exhibitions, and Recognition

Robert Andy Coombs is a contemporary queer and disabled photographer whose work explores intimacy, desire, embodiment, and public space from the perspective of a power wheelchair user.

Selected highlights from exhibitions, publications, awards, and public programs.For a full curriculum vitae, see the About page.

Selected Exhibitions

  • Queer Lens: A History of Photography, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2024

  • No Content Warning, ONE Archives at USC Libraries, Los Angeles, 2023

Publications

  • Queer Lens, Getty Publications, 2025

Awards

  • United States Artist Award, 2022

Education

  • MFA in Photography, Yale School of Art

  • BFA in Photography, Kendall College of Art and Design

Teaching & Lectures

  • Lecturer, Harvard University

  • Instructor, University of Miami

Two women are viewing photographs in an art gallery. The photos on display include a person with a wheelchair, a couple on a bed, a woman swimming, and a person on the beach.

Selected Exhibitions

  • Open book titled "Queer Lens: A History of Photography" with a blue-tinted photograph of a person sleeping.

    Queer Lens: A History of Photography | J. Paul Getty Museum

    Queer Lens: A History of Photography was a major group exhibition at the J. Paul Getty Museum exploring queer photographic practice from the 19th century to today. The show featured historic and contemporary works, including photography by Robert Andy Coombs, tracing themes of desire, identity, embodiment, and visibility in queer culture.

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  • An art gallery wall features a large text panel titled 'ROBERT ANDY COOMBS NO CONTENT WARNING' with paragraphs of description underneath. To the right, a framed photograph depicts three human figures, partially transparent, standing outdoors among trees and foliage.

    Robert Andy Coombs: No Content Warning

    No Content Warning is a solo photography exhibition by Robert Andy Coombs at ONE Archives at the USC Libraries, featuring large-scale works from his CripFag series that confront visibility, disability, sexuality, and censorship in contemporary visual culture.

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  • Four people in a small, wooden art gallery looking at photographs displayed on the walls, with a close-up of a person's shoulder in the foreground.

    Robert Andy Coombs: Fire Island Pines

    Fire Island Pines is a solo photographic exhibition by Robert Andy Coombs presented as part of the BOFFO Residency Fire Island in Fire Island Pines, NY, featuring intimate images and Polaroids made during his residency that reflect queer community, accessibility, embodiment, and the legacy of queer photography in this historic cultural landscape.

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  • Gallery wall displaying three photographs by Robert Andy Coombs titled 'Notions of Care', featuring LGBTQ+ individuals in natural and outdoor settings.

    Robert Andy Coombs: Notions of Care

    Notions of Care is a solo exhibition by Robert Andy Coombs at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum presenting selected works from his CripFag series. The show explores intimate narratives at the intersection of disability and sexuality, challenging cultural preconceptions and reframing notions of care, embodiment, and desire in contemporary photography.

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  • Art gallery with photographs on white walls, large window with grid panes, and a clean, minimal interior.

    I'm Sorry, this Space Is Reserved

    I’m Sorry, This Space Is Reserved is a group exhibition at Nikolaj Kunsthal in Copenhagen featuring Robert Andy Coombs alongside international artists exploring non-normative bodies, disability, accessibility, and identity through contemporary visual art.

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  • Entrance to Gilespie Gallery of Art with a yellow sign on the left displaying a raised fist and '#BlackDisabledLivesMatter' symbol. Inside the gallery, there are photographs, two blue benches with signs reading 'It was hard to get here' and 'I'd rather be sitting,' and a yellow sculptural installation hanging from the ceiling. On the right wall, there is a sign that says 'Disrupt and Resist' with a subtitle about a love letter to the disability community.

    Disrupt and Resist

    Disrupt and Resist is a group exhibition featuring Robert Andy Coombs and other disabled artists and designers engaging in creative resistance, disability advocacy, and anti-ableist disruption. The show explores accessibility, disability justice, radical joy, and the diversity of lived experience through contemporary art.

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