Tori Gagne
Tori Gagne is a fine art photographer whose work explores the enduring relationship between horses, landscape, and the natural world. With a particular focus on the wild horses of the American West, her photographs are shaped by years of returning to remote landscapes and, at times, encountering and following the lives of individual horses and family bands.
Several times each year, Gagne travels to photograph wild horses on the public lands of the western United States. Her fieldwork has taken her throughout Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, and Arizona, where she spends extended time observing the horses within their natural environment. Her equine photography has also taken her beyond the American West, including special projects on Sable Island, Nova Scotia, the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and internationally. This immersive approach allows her to move beyond simply documenting the horse, creating photographs that reveal moments of movement, connection, resilience, and the quiet relationships within a herd.
Her broader practice is rooted in a lifelong affinity for horses and the natural world. Drawing upon her background in fine art photography as well as an earlier career in garden design, Gagne is particularly interested in the intersection of animal and landscape. Her work ranges from intimate and expressive portraits to expansive environmental photographs and more impressionistic pieces created through in-camera movement, multiple exposures, and digital compositing.
Gagne holds a BFA in Fine Art Photography from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Her ongoing Wild Horses of the American West project reflects both a deep admiration for these animals and an awareness of the increasingly complex pressures facing wild horse populations and the public lands they inhabit.
Available Works
24" x 16" Archival pigment print on Hahnemuhle fine art paper | Hardwood walnut frame | UV acrylic | Signed and editioned by the artist. Edition 1/25.
“The Camargue horse is an ancient breed indigenous to the Camargue region of Southern France, where these small, resilient horses have lived for centuries in the marshes and wetlands of the Rhone Delta. It had long been a dream of mine to travel to this remarkable landscape and photograph its iconic horses. ‘Camargue Landscape grew from that experience, capturing the subtle colors, textures, and quiet beauty of the horses together within their environment.”
20" x 20” Archival pigment print on Hahnemuhle fine art paper | Hardwood walnut frame | UV acrylic | Signed and editioned by the artist. Edition 2/ 15.
“‘Seeking Solace’ portrays two rescued stallions who survived a devastating roundup in Nevada’s Black Rock Region. Now living together in sanctuary, the two stallions share a quiet moment of connection. Visible on the horse in the foreground is a U.S. freeze brand - a permanent marker of his time in captivity. For me, the image speaks to resilience, companionship, and the enduring bonds between these horses after profound upheaval.”
36" x 24" Archival pigment print on Hahnemuhle fine art paper | Hardwood walnut frame | UV acrylic | Signed and editioned by the artist. Edition 3/25.
“‘In the Magnolias’ is inspired by the imperiled wild horse population, wild horse sanctuaries and rescues, and my lifelong affinity for the natural world. Drawing on my previous career in garden design, I combine my original wild horse an botanical imagery with in-camera movement, multiple exposures, and digital composite techniques. The resulting impressionistic photograph celebrates the unique, delicate, and increasingly imperiled beauty of the natural world.”