My photographic work explores how interior experience becomes visible through the relationship between the male figure, surrounding environments, and material surfaces. Across several long-running series, I examine how bodies, materials, and spaces register forces such as tension, protection, concealment, strength and balance.
I began by photographing dance and art performance, experiences that shaped my interest in how the body occupies space and communicates through gesture and presence. Over time this developed into staged photographic environments in which the figure enters into dialogue with light, surfaces, objects, and landscapes.
In Quiet Anatomies (1985–1988), the male figure becomes a site of stillness and attention. Subtle shifts of posture, light, and proximity reveal the body as a field of perception, emphasizing moments where interior experience emerges through quiet observation.
Later projects including Inherited Armor (1980–present) and Covered Witness (1987–1989) introduce layers of covering and concealment. Originally developed in collaboration with ceramic sculptor Michael Biello, Inherited Armor incorporates masks and codpieces placed on and around the body, where these objects function as both as projection of power and vulnerablity. Covered Witness, created during the AIDS crisis, reflects a historical moment marked by fear, protection, and vigilance, using veils and coverings to suggest how identity can be shielded, performed, or withheld.
Subsequent series such as Echoes of Stone (1992–present) and Interior Fields (1996–present) extend this inquiry through encounters with sculpture, landscape, and man made environments. Echoes of Stone revisits classical sculpture as living surfaces, reconsidering ideals of form, permanence, masculinity, and display. In Interior Fields, natural and built environments become psychological landscapes shaped by pressure, erosion, reflection, and containment.
More recent work in Between What Holds (2020–present) focuses on men in spaces where support, tension, and balance are implied rather than secure. Figures occupy uncertain structures and thresholds, centering moments of vulnerability, strength, and quiet intimacy.
Across these series, I explore how identity and perception emerge through the shifting relationship between the body, surrounding surfaces, and the structures that support and contain it.
My photographs are held in public and private collections including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania State Museum, and Lehigh University. In addition to my studio practice, I have taught photography at the University of the Arts and other institutions.
Selected Solo and Group Exhibitions
2026 11th Juried Photography Exhibition, Rehoboth Art League, Rehoboth Beach, DE
2025 In the Soft Light, InLiquid Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2025 holy.body (Michael Biello with Thomas Moore) The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA
2023 Tea Dance 1980, Thomas Moore, Biello Martin Studio, Philadelphia, PA
2018 Members exhibit, Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, Philadelphia, PA
2018 Innovative Means Photography from the Collection, The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA
2014 Philadelphia Photographers: 1975-1985, Santa Bannon Fine Art Gallery, Bethlehem, PA
2010 Daydream Nation, The Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, Philadelphia, PA
1995 Thomas Moore, The Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, NJ
1993 Thomas Moore, Delaware Theatre Company, Wilmington, DE
1994 Faculty Exhibit, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
1994 Group exhibit, Carspecken-Scott Gallery, Wilmington, DE
1993 Photography Twelve, Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown, NJ
1993 Photographs from the Collection of Carlton Willers, University of Iowa Art Museum, Iowa City, IA
1993 Fronts + Backs, Paul Cava Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1993 Group exhibit, Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburgh, PA
1992 Group exhibit, Trenton State College Gallery, Trenton, NJ
1992 Group exhibit, Puchong Gallery, New York, NY
1992 Group exhibit, Neikrug Gallery, New York, NY
1992 Faculty Exhibit, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
1992 Group exhibit, Kampo Cultural Center, New York, NY
1992 Group exhibit, Zone One Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1991 Thomas Moore. Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA
1990 Young Americans, F/Stop Gallery, Bath, U.K
1990 Imprints, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA
1990 Imprints, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA
1990 Faculty Exhibit, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
1990 Dark Light, Susan Isaacs Gallery, Wilmington, DE
1990 Group exhibit, Zone One Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1989 Thomas Moore, The Book Trader Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1988 Fantasy, Illusion and Grotesque, Sykes Gallery, Millersville University, Millersville, PA
1988 Group exhibit, Port of History Museum, Philadelphia, PA
1988 Persona, Level Three Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1988 Art Fighting AIDS, Port of History Museum, Philadelphia, PA
1988 63rdAnnual Competition, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA
1987 Group exhibit, Janvier Gallery, University of Delaware, Newark, DE
1987 Selected Photographs, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA
1987 Photography Six, Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown, NJ
1986 Group exhibit, Nexus Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1986 Fine Art Photography 86, North Museum, Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA
1986 62ndAnnual Competition, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA
1984 Woo World Performance Views, Morris Gallery, The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
1982 Woo World Performance Views, Marion Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1980 Facing the Mask, University Gallery, University of Delaware, Newark, DE
Selected Articles and Catalogs
Binswanger, Julia A new queer art exhibition in Kensington redefines masculinity… Billy Penn at WHYY, April 11, 2025
Conklin,Jo-Ann The Collection of Carlton Willers, exhibition catalog, The University of Iowa Art Museum, 1993,
Coleman, A.D. Metro, Letter from Philadelphia/NewYork No. 18, November 1990.
Coleman,A.D. Photo Review, Photography In and Around Philadelphia, Fall, 1990.
Seidel, Miriam, An Exhibition of Contrasts, Philadelphia Inquirer, June 8, 1990.
McGreevy, Linda, Portfolio Magazine, Possible Reality, February 7, 1990.
McGreevy, Exhibition catalog,, Old Dominion University Press, 1990.
Crohn, Jennifer, Flesh Fish & Photos, Welcomat, January 10, 1990.
Scott, William, Staged Portraits, Philadelphia Inquirer, May 17, 1989.
Perloff, Stephen, The Delaware Portfolio, The Photo Review, Spring, 1988.
Donohue, Victoria Sixteen Artists Showcase Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/12, 1988.
River to River, Portfolio: Thomas Moore, November, 1987.
Curtis, Deborah, Introduction to Visual Literacy, Prentice-Hall, 1986.
Collections
Philadelphia Museum of Art
The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA
Millersville University, Millersville, PA
Education
MFA University of Delaware, Newark, DE
BA Communications and Theatre, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA