2026 SPE Annual ConferenceSpeakers

Rebecca Drolen

Friday, March 20, 2026 @ 9:00am, Athens

Performing Strength: Exchanges between Feminist Art and Bodybuilding

Rebecca Drolen (b. 1983) is an artist and educator based in Arkansas. Her photographic work examines how individuals visually assemble their identities and the constructed ideals of gendered bodily performance. Drolen's practice blends photography with... read more

Matt Eich

Friday, March 20, 2026 @ 9:00am, Atlanta 5

After the Glut - Photobook Publishing in the Age of Plenty

Matt Eich (b. 1986) is a photographic essayist working on long-form projects related to memory, family, community, and the American condition.

Matt is the author of three monographs. He teaches photography at The... read more

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Sean Fader

Friday, March 20, 2026 @ 4:00pm, Agusta

Insufficient Memory to Queer American Memorials

Sean Fader is currently an Assistant Professor at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in the Department of Photography and Imaging. Fader's upcoming solo show will be at Brigitte Mulholland Gallery in Paris, where he... read more

Katheryne Flake

Friday, March 20, 2026 @ 3:30pm, Atlanta 1

Soft Bodies: The Malleable Self

Kate Flake (Decatur, GA 1991) is an interdisciplinary artist and a 3rd year graduate fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They hold a BFA in Printmaking from the University of Georgia and utilize photography, textiles,... read more

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Chris Fraser

Friday, March 20, 2026 @ 2:30pm, Athens

Camera-Making As Photographic Practice

Chris Fraser constructs environments modeled on historical image-making technologies, from the camera obscura to the magic lantern. These spaces put objects in dialogue with their images, sacrificing broad distribution for an experience of image that... read more

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Lu Gao

Saturday, March 21, 2026 @ 3:30pm, Athens

A note on learning how to look

Lu Gao (China) is a New York-based artist working with photographic installations exploring perception, environment, and contemplative life. She holds an MFA from Parsons (2024) and a BA in Architecture from CAFA (2020). Gao has... read more

Beate Geissler

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

Climate Resilience in the American South

Beate Geissler is an artist, educator, and longtime collaborator with Oliver Sann, as well as an active member of the Anthropocene Commons. Together, they explore entanglements of human activity, technology, and climate change, investigating how... read more