Midwest Chapter ConferenceSpeakers

Amy Kim

Saturday, October 11, 2025 @ 3:00pm, Wayne State University

Viscous Empire

Amy Yeminne Kim is Assistant Professor of Photography at Hope College (Holland, MI). Wolfcamp Catalogue, her recent series, examines the West Texas based U.S. oil production with an anthropological eye. It was exhibited at the... read more

Howard Leu

Saturday, October 11, 2025 @ 2:00pm, Wayne State University

Sacred Reverie: memories from photographs become testament

Howard Leu is a Midwest-based interdisciplinary artist. He works with lens-based and cameraless processes and photo archives to construct narratives surrounding the Asian diaspora, including his own family's immigrant journey. Leu earned an MFA from... read more

Mara Magyarosi-Laytner (b. 1988) is an artist who pairs multiple experimental lens based methods to explore identity through a symbolic and poetic viewpoint. A graduate of both College for Creative Studies (BFA | Photography, 2012)... read more

Amara Murphy is a black, queer photographer based out of Detroit, Michigan. She was born in Wuerzburg, Germany. In 2022 she received her Associates in Science at Oakland Community College. In 2025 she received her... read more

Diana Noh

Saturday, October 11, 2025 @ 11:00am, Wayne State University

Soft Ruins: Mending the Self Through Photography

Diana Noh is an interdisciplinary artist working with photography, fiber, and installation. Her practice celebrates reconstructions of distressed photographs of architectural spaces and landscapes, exploring themes of trauma embedded in her family relationships and cultural... read more

Rebecca Nolan

Saturday, October 11, 2025 @ 1:00pm, Wayne State University

Creative Lineage: The Significance of Artistic Mentor Relationships

Rebecca Nolan grew up in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin. She is an artist whose work has been exhibited internationally. She earned a B.A. in communications, humanities and photography at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay and... read more

Deborah Orloff

Friday, October 10, 2025 @ 1:00pm, College for Creative Studies

Material Ways of Seeing: Using Special Collections and Archives for Inspiration

Deborah Orloff is a photo-based artist and educator. Originally from New York City, she moved to Ohio to accept a faculty position at the University of Toledo where she is the Head of Photography &... read more

Danielle Owensby

Friday, October 10, 2025 @ 11:00am, College for Creative Studies

My Divine Comedy: Queer Mythmaking as Reclamation

Danielle deo Owensby (she/they) is a grief-mapper, ritualist, and queer mythmaker working across photography, installation, and interdisciplinary narrative. Her practice explores the complexities of memory, trauma, loss, and nostalgia, transforming personal histories into sacred visual... read more

Jamie Pittinos

Friday, October 10, 2025 @ 9:20am, College for Creative Studies

The Auger and The Augment: Transsexual Reinvention

Jamie Pittinos is a lover of obsolete process. They were born by a glistening lake in Northern Michigan, and discovered their livelihood in Detroit, moving to the city at the age of seventeen.

Currently... read more

Vlademir Rodrigues

Friday, October 10, 2025 @ 2:00pm, College for Creative Studies

Photography to challenge the negative narrative of Africa

Vlademir (Vadu) Rodrigues is an MFA candidate at MSU and a social activist from Praia, Cabo Verde, with more than 10 years of experience as a photographer. Among his achievements are the prestigious Varg-Sullivan Graduate... read more

Kris Sanford

Saturday, October 11, 2025 @ 10:00am, Wayne State University

The Normal Mind

Kris Sanford grew up in southeast Michigan. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally, including group exhibitions in Amsterdam, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Houston, London, Miami, and New York. She is currently a professor... read more

Jeffrey Sauger

Saturday, October 11, 2025 @ 3:20pm, Wayne State University

Where Furrows Run Deep

Jeffrey Sauger grew up in Troy, Michigan. He has a BAA in Journalism from CMU and was the Photo Editor of CM Life, the student-run newspaper. After eight years at the Newport (RI) Daily News,... read more