Andrea Ryder was born in Toronto, and lives in New York. She received a B.A. in Anthropology and French. With her thesis on sacred Hindu Architecture in India, she was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship (masters) to study Comparative Religion in India, but declined in order to pursue a B.F.A. in Printmaking and Photography at Concordia University, Montreal. While there, she started a literary and arts magazine, Slingshot. Andrea is a founding member and is on the Board of Governor's of IIFA, the International Institute of Fine Arts, in Delhi, India. Andrea wrote the curriculum mixing Eastern and Western methodologies, has taught pinhole photography and is currently in dialogue with New York University to send a visiting class. She received her M.A. in Studio Art, from NYU. She has exhibited work in Cuba, India, Canada, and in the summer of 2004, she had her first solo show in New York. Andrea was selected for the premier edition of Carte Blanche, a collection of leading contemporary Canadian photographers published by the Magenta Foundation, in 2006. Her latest creative project is motherhood.