Ryan Parra Photography

Ryan Parra is a photography and video-based artist and educator living in Mesa, Arizona, who has spent the past twelve years extensively researching medicinal flora growing throughout the Southwest and beyond, as means for ethnobotanical documentation and artistic expression. This botanical research began shortly after completing his Bachelor of Fine Art degree from the University of Oregon in 2012, where Parra became particularly interested in the unique relationship between culture and the natural world.

Parra’s interest in documenting medicinal plants evolved and expanded through graduate work (MFA, Photography & Video, Arizona State University), through research grants, a Fellowship Award, residencies and commissions that led to a series of works now part of the ASU Department of Health & Wellness permanent collection, as well as the permanent collection of the Joshua Tree Highlands Artist Residency. Today, as he presents this flora research in museums and galleries throughout the states, such as The Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum in 2023, he continues to survey the rugged southwest desert for new plants while trying to remind his viewers of the magical, symbiotic role plants have played in our exploration of knowledge and well-being for hundreds of thousands of years.