2026 SPE Annual ConferenceSpeakers

Hillerbrand + Magsamen

Thursday, March 19, 2026 @ 12:00pm, Georgia 6

The Power of the Photographic Zine

Stephan Hillerbrand is one half of the collaborative team Hillerbrand+Magsamen, whose work explores memory, consumerism, and domestic space. They deconstruct and rebuild their physical environments to critique daily life with humor and accessibility. For them,... read more

Kim Abeles

Friday, March 20, 2026 @ 4:30pm, Atlanta 3

Social Practice: Navigating Academia

Kim Abeles has created projects with science museums, health departments, air pollution control agencies, and community organizations. She is a Guggenheim Fellow, and her work is in collections including MOCA, CAAM, LACMA, BAMFA. Her books... read more

Ruth Adams

Thursday, March 19, 2026 @ 2:00pm, Georgia 6

Your Administrator and You

Ruth Adams is a nationally recognized artist, a Professor of Photography, and the Director of the School of Art and Visual Studies at the University of Kentucky. Adams has worked at UK for 25 years... read more

Jason Arel-Klein

Thursday, March 19, 2026 @ 2:00pm, Atlanta 5

Reflecting the Times: Image-Making and Education in the Shadow of Genocide

Jason Arel-Klein is a Jewish-American photographer based in Atlanta, Georgia. His photographs have been displayed at The Curated Fridge and the Atlanta Photography Group, among other exhibits. He is pursuing a Photography BFA at the... read more

Baran Ataei Ardestani

Saturday, March 21, 2026 @ 10:00am, Atlanta 1

Ascendance; self-portraiture as ritual

Baran Ataei (b. 1997) is an Iranian interdisciplinary artist who works with various mediums including photography, glass, printmaking and installation. Her work navigates themes of trauma, memory, and resistance against oppressive power structures.
She... read more

Mahsa Attaran

Friday, March 20, 2026 @ 4:30pm, Atlanta 4

The Archive as a Photographic Tool

Mahsa Attaran, Iranian-born visual artist and photographer, explores culture, identity, and feminism through fine art and advertising. Her work spans multimedia, with exhibitions worldwide and features in Hyperallergic. She holds an MFA from UConn, Visual... read more

read more

read more

read more

read more

Rachel Boillot

Friday, March 20, 2026 @ 2:30pm, Atlanta 3

An Unfixed Pilgrimage: Vulnerability, Kinship & Healing through Collaboration

Saturday, March 21, 2026 @ 9:00am, Georgia 6

Reciprocity Reframed: Co-Creating in the Light of Belonging

Rachel Boillot (Duke MFA|EDA '14) is an artist and educator based in the Arkansas Delta region. She is a faculty member in the Art + Design department at Arkansas State University (Jonesboro, AR). read more

Jeremy Bolen

Thursday, March 19, 2026 @ 12:00pm, Atlanta 1

Climate Resilience in the American South

Jeremy Bolen is an artist researcher, organizer and educator interested in site specific, experimental modes of documentation and presentation. Much of Bolen's work involves rethinking systems of recording -- in an attempt to observe... read more