South Central Chapter Conference Overview

To Be Continued...

When October 22-25, 2020
Where Online Event

To Be Continued… 

Photography has a complicated history. In its infancy, the medium was used as a tool to support imperialistic imaginations and desires. Yet, the medium has also been subversive in time. Through photographs, we can precisely locate those sinister slippages when photography has been used to oppress or harm and to name them for what they are. Photography remains ambivalent: it can cause harm or it can incite a revolution. The 2020 SPE South Central Chapter conference comes at a moment when current events remind us of the value of critical self-examination. We have been prompted to search for correctives, and we have a responsibility to acknowledge how the photographic medium is implicated in inciting, memorializing, and perpetuating patriarchal and white supremacist ideologies and practices.

To Be Continued… was chosen as a theme to acknowledge this gathering as a chance to speak openly about institutional failures, reparation, and reconciliation. To wield a camera is akin to wielding privilege; both acts command power. Such agency has been historically reserved for and credited to white practitioners. This year's programming is dedicated to de-centering the historically dominant voices of our field and our professional organization. The planning committee seeks to amplify the voices and professional practices of our region's Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) community members. 

Our work towards equity must push far past empty statements of solidarity and social media trends. To Be Continued… aims to facilitate a public conversation concerning the inherently political nature of art-making and art education and the marginalization and oppression of individuals in pursuit of those endeavors. We can sit on our hands and imagine a truly just world, but continued action is our only way of getting there.

GET INVOLVED!

_APPLY FOR THE STUDENT EXHIBITION BY 10/7/20

_APPLY FOR THE LOIS FIELDS MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP FOR BIPOC STUDENTS & CONTINGENT FACULTY BY 10/12/20

_CHECK OUT THE LINE UP IN HEY SUMMIT & REGISTER TODAY!

_Questions?Email spesc.virtual2020@gmail.com

_Conference Chairs: Amanda Breitbach, Rebecca Drolen, Alec Kaus & Rana Young
_Conference Committee Members: Michael Darough, Diane Durant, Rebecca Hopp, Chris Ireland, Cynthia Miller, Heather Wetzel

Photograph copyright Zora Murff, 2020