2018 SPE Annual ConferenceSpeakers

Heather M. O'Brien

Saturday, March 03, 2018 @ 9:00am, Grand Ballroom Salon I

"Undoing Conditioning: Towards a Reciprocal Pedagogical Practice in the Middle East"

Heather M. O'Brien is an artist living and working in Beirut, Lebanon. Her work explores how capitalist desire and militaristic legacy construct our ideas about home. She received an MFA in Photography and Media from... read more

Paul O'Leary

Saturday, March 03, 2018 @ 2:00pm, Grand Ballroom Salon I

Invited Speaker Paul O'Leary - "Photocitizens- Students as Co-Producers"

Paul O'Leary is a Senior Lecturer in Photography at Staffordshire University. As a documentary photographer he records the time in which we live, the lives of others and in an indirect way charts his own... read more

Soon-hwa Oh

Thursday, March 01, 2018 @ 2:00pm, Grand Ballroom Salon H

Dialogic: COMMUNITY

Oh Soon-Hwa is an associate professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Her photographs have been shown internationally in Asia pacific, Europe, and North America. She holds an MFA from the School of Visual Arts... read more

Marc Ohrem-Leclef

Friday, March 02, 2018 @ 9:00am, Grand Ballroom Salon H

Dialogic: MALE IDENTITY

Marc Ohrem-Leclef's visual arts practice centers on immersive portraits of communities, working with photography, video and text. A Mac Dowell Colony Fellow, his work has been exhibited in Brazil, Germany, India, the UK and US... read more

Louie Palu

Friday, March 02, 2018 @ 1:00pm, Grand Ballroom Salon I

"New Cold War"

Louie Palu is a documentary photographer who focuses on political and social issues. His accolades include a Guggenheim fellowship, Pulitzer Center Grants, including being featured in The New York Times, BBC and Museum of Fine... read more

Maxine Payne

Thursday, March 01, 2018 @ 2:00pm, Grand Ballroom Salon H

Dialogic: COMMUNITY

Maxine Payne is a photographer living and working in Arkansas. She received her M.F.A from the University of Iowa. Currently a Professor in the Art Department at Hendrix College, she works to find ways to... read more

Toni Pepe

Saturday, March 03, 2018 @ 2:00pm, Grand Ballroom Salon G

"Artist/Mother: The Maternal Experience as a Creative Catalyst"

Toni Pepe is chair and assistant professor of photography at Boston University. She received her MFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology and an MLA in visual culture from Boston University. Her photographs and installation... read more

Jared Ragland

Friday, March 02, 2018 @ 9:00am, Grand Ballroom Salon G

"Foreign Domestic: Identification, Differentiation and Related Strategies in Social Documentary Practice"

MFA, Tulane University. A former White House photo editor, Ragland currently teaches and coordinates exhibitions and community programs at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His social documentary and fine art work has been exhibited... read more

Nino Rakichevich

Friday, March 02, 2018 @ 3:15pm, Grand Ballroom Salon K

Nino Rakichevich: "How to See Beyond the Obvious!"

Nino Rakichevich is an advertising and fine art photographer based in Malibu, California. He has won over 40 national and international photography awards, and is a proud member of the elite artist organization ULUPUDS in... read more

Elliot Ross

Thursday, March 01, 2018 @ 2:00pm, Grand Ballroom Salon H

Dialogic: COMMUNITY

Elliot Ross, Savannah College of Art and Design 2011, is a Brooklyn-based artist investigating the complex political, social and environmental narratives surrounding the oftentimes arbitrary constructs of man-made borders. His work has been internationally shown... read more

Nadia Sablin

Friday, March 02, 2018 @ 10:00am, Grand Ballroom Salon I

"At the Edge of the World"

Nadia Sablin is a photographer, whose work investigates the relationship between documentary and fictional storytelling, exploring the larger world through close personal narratives. Sablin's monograph, Aunties, was published by Duke University Press/Center for Documentary Studies... read more

Kerry Skarbakka

Friday, March 02, 2018 @ 9:00am, Grand Ballroom Salon H

Dialogic: MALE IDENTITY

Kerry Skarbakka's performance-based photographic work has been exhibited internationally, featured in notable publications and is held in prominent collections. A 2005 Creative Capital Foundation grantee, Skarbakka received his MFA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago.... read more