2026 SPE Annual ConferenceSpeakers

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, Valdosta

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

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Jay Gould

Saturday, March 21, 2026 @ 9:00am, Georgia 12

Science as Art/Art as Science

Jay Gould (he/him) is an artist and educator that conceptually integrates modern and historic photographic processes into tactile works that contemplate provocative curiosities of reality, often in collaboration with researchers in scientific fields. He is... read more

Allison Grant

Thursday, March 19, 2026 @ 2:00pm, Valdosta

Climate Resilience in the American South

Friday, March 20, 2026 @ 9:00am, Atlanta 4

An Unfixed Pilgrimage: Vulnerability, Kinship & Healing through Collaboration

Allison Grant is an artist, writer, curator, and Associate Professor of Photography at The University of Alabama. Her artworks have been widely exhibited and are held in collections at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art,... read more

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Eliza Gregory

Friday, March 20, 2026 @ 9:30am, Georgia 6

Floodplain Projects: A Collaborative Studio

Eliza Gregory is an artist and an educator. She is an assistant professor of Photography and Social Practice at California State University, Sacramento. Her work has been exhibited and collected internationally. Her current project, [Placeholder],... read more

Alexis Hagestad

Saturday, March 21, 2026 @ 10:30am, Atlanta 1

Two Century Plants, Intertwined

Alexis Joy Hagestad is an interdisciplinary artist working in sculpture and lens-based media. She examines the emotional impact of environmental loss on all species, human and non-human. By exploring and learning from multispecies communication, her... read more

Frank Hamrick

Friday, March 20, 2026 @ 2:30pm, Atlanta 4

Reframing The Frame: Classroom Innovations in Analog Photography

Frank Hamrick's photography appears on Gillian Welch and David Rawlings' albums, is collected by the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Seattle Art Museum, and spot lit by NPR... read more

Jessica Hays

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

The Sun Sets Midafternoon: Climate Grief through the Lens of Wildfire

Jessica Hays is a photographer and artist in Montana. Grounded in the American west, she explores relationships between people, places, and experiences of being deeply connected to ones surroundings. Her work is shown internationally, and... read more

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