Workshop enrollment open for Light & Ink
and, I made a billboard!
All the Women I Know at the University of Oregon
No woman I know before the baby, after the quarantine, before quitting, after coming out, before the diagnosis, after the divorce, before the miscarriage, before the hit, before the cops came.
—Christine Hume
The Center of Art Research at the University of Oregon invited me to produce a billboard for their site at 510 Oak. At 396 x 96”, it features six of the portraits from my collaborative image/text book with Christine Hume. The project was a revelation for me, pivoting from the intimacy of making small prints in the darkroom to working at this scale. Thrilling to learn the project can take (and make sense in) monumental form!
Winter session of Light & Ink: Photography and Writing workshop starts January 20, 2026
Enrollment is now open for Light & Ink: Photography and Writing. The workshop starts on January 20, 2026 and will run for eight weeks via Zoom. Participants will explore the generative possibilities between photography and writing in creative practice. How can language illuminate or disturb the seeming fact of a photograph? Can a photograph animate a text to create new meanings? Through readings and image presentations, we will study historical and contemporary works with an emphasis on books. These discussions will feed assignments, both in-class and out, where we will explore the material weave of image and text and its expressive potential to evoke, describe, and narrate.
I’m excited to announce that Kelli Connell will do a talk on her brilliant Pictures for Charis during one of the sessions. Pictures for Charis conjures the story of Charis Wilson, Edward Weston’s romantic partner and collaborator, tracing a path of their travels with her partner, artist Betsy Odom. The book tests different forms of research and experimentation to consider the wondrous and difficult relationship between desire, intimacy, and creativity, queering this mythic chapter of photography’s history.
This workshop is ideal for artists, photographers, and writers interested in image/text forms and is open to any level of experience. Consider it the antidote to winter blues! Please share on your socials!
Workshop tuition is $500 and enrollment is limited to 10 participants. To enroll, click here. If you need to work out a payment plan or if you have other questions, please contact me here.
Lee Marks (1948-2025)
My friend Lee Marks passed away on November 15th. I met Lee in 2012 when I was beginning my research on Hidden Mother. At the time, there was no writing or exhibitions on this vernacular form, no internet buzz. She and her spouse, John C. DePrez, Jr. had assembled a remarkable collection of hidden mothers, combing Indiana antique shops and thrift stores. They published a small book, The Hidden Presence, featuring highlights of their collection.
Lee and John welcomed me into their home, with a toddler and babysitter in town, and shared their collection and time with me. I made several visits and these trips were an enormous pleasure for me, talking with Lee for hours about our shared fascination with the material. I had never written a book but I knew in my heart that I had one in me. Lee’s generosity and trust fanned my courage to bring the book, and the traveling exhibition I organized, into the world. Their support continued long after Hidden Mother was published: pep talks, sharing my book widely, happily brainstorming with me.
Lee made many and lasting contributions to the photography world. She was a founding member of AIPAD, and served for many years on its board and as its president. She was a consultant to Pierre Apraxine, curator of the Gilman Paper Company Collection, and catalogued their collections. She also wrote the extensive plate notes for the catalog, Photographs from the Collection of the Gilman Paper Company. I vividly remember seeing the Gilman exhibition at the Met when I first moved to NYC. I guess she had been making an impression on me long before I met her. I will miss her dearly.
It’s early but here are some things I loved in 2025:
Writing with at Louis Place
I turned 60 in February and swam with stingrays.
Suzanne and Louise by Hervé Guibert, published by Magic Hour Press
Dancing with Fili Pelacchi at Flux and Flow
Learning how to roller skate!
Keisha Scarville’s show, Passports, at Higher Pictures
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
More concretions!
A visit to the Three Sisters, the oldest trees in Ohio, with dear friends
Tacita Dean’s exhibition Blind Folly at the Columbus Museum of Art
More forts!
Veiled Presence: The Hidden Mothers and Sara VanDerBeek at the Norton Museum of Art
Jennifer Reeves’s film, The Gloria of Your Imagination, seen at the Unorthodocs Fest at the Wexner Center for the Arts
I just finished Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, and my goodness, it was a page turner.
