Midwest Chapter Conference Overview

MOMENTUM

When October 15-17, 2026
Where The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

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The Midwest Chapter of the Society for Photographic Education invites artists, educators, students, and scholars to its 2026 Regional Conference, Momentum, in Columbus, Ohio October 15-17th.

Momentum is not only about speed or progress. It is what carries us forward, what stays with us as we move, and what resists or redirects our motion. It builds through repetition, collaboration, and sustained attention. Momentum can mean moving forward while looking back, building from history while questioning it. It emerges from pressure, collective effort, and the slow accumulation of work over time. Momentum is not only shaped by what precedes it, but also by what it makes possible ahead, how present actions shape what comes next.

Photography is shaped by movement and change, but also by persistence. Images circulate rapidly, technologies evolve, and ideas build upon one another. At the same time, histories, institutions, and habits continue to shape how and why we make work. Momentum exists in this tension—between acceleration and pause, between being pulled forward and pushing against.

This conference offers an opportunity to consider how momentum appears in your practice, teaching, and community. Where does energy build in your work? Where does it slow, shift, or redirect? What are you responding to, and what are you trying to carry forward?

Please join us in Columbus to share work, exchange ideas, and consider how we build, sustain, and challenge momentum in photography today!

Be sure to book your room at The Blackwell Inn, OSU's only on-campus hotel, by September 15th.

Reserve your room here!

Members and Student Exhibitions Calls for Entries - Deadline September 11th

The exhibitions will be held in the Hopkins Hall Lobby and 146 Project Space on The Ohio State University campus. 

This year's juror is Ardine Nelson, Professor Emerita OSU. She says: 

"Serving as your juror for the regional 2026 members and student exhibitions is both a pleasure and honor.  Being able to view submissions from so many working artists with diverse approaches aesthetically and technically is something I expect will show ideas that both surprise and excite me.  I hope to make selections that will do the same for all conference attendees.

This year's regional SPE conference's theme is Momentum.  Momentum is not only shaped by what precedes it, but also by what it makes possible moving forward.  My question will be how does your visual expression situate itself within this continuum."

Submit your work for consideration by September 11th!

Click here to Submit