SAIC PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT CATALOG • 2019-2020 • 11TH EDITION
PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT CATALOG 2019-2020
Our dear colleague, Lewis Toby, has recently retired after twenty-eight years of service for the Photography Department. Lewis is the rare practitioner capable of bridging the gap between fine arts and commercial photographic practice. During his time at SAIC, Lewis developed the curriculum for our lighting classes and tirelessly championed the establishment of our professional lighting studios. Lewis is known for his technical wit, ability to demystify difficult processes, expertise in black and white, large format, and editorial photography, and above all, for his infectious passion for the photographic medium. We are and will remain indebted to him for his service to this department and wish him the best in all future endeavors.
Self Portrait, 2011
4-H Camp Shaw-Waw-Nas-See, Manteno, IL 1988
What makes a photograph worth looking at? Or put differently, what makes a good photograph? You will spend (or have spent) four years of your life spinning around this question, so I figure it’s a question worth asking point blank. What makes you want to look at something for more than a second? I’m not asking this question for an answer but rather, to have it sit in your mind. I’ve spent the past two semesters continually surprised, dumbfounded, stilled, expanded and moved by the experimentation, excitement and depth of work I’ve seen coming out of SAIC photo students. The will to understand the world (which I too often forget is one of the many purposes of art) through the impulse to look at, talk about, and think about photographs is an impulse that can be both insurmountably brave and incredibly selfish. We spend our days distilling life into flat surfaces, we also spend our days asking ourselves what it means to be alive. It starts simply. There was the kid who spent a semester showing us his father so that he could see himself. Another student whose financial woes became institutional critique. The person whose own body led our class through a map of trauma in their state. Another whose disparate selves opened up a treasure trove of questions around race and family. One more whose tics and obsessions became a larger question about learned habits, and left the class with the question, should one replace one obsession (or addiction maybe) with another? And yet another student whose questions around performance and movement and its occasional conflict with the impermeable stillness of photography, still have me breathless. And others whose impulses to investigate the structure and the purpose of light (without which nothing would be seen) through the creation of photographs has allowed me to remember photography’s importance, its magic, its Sisyphean tick. This is a catalog of your work. It’s what your classmates are doing, what your friends are doing, what your lovers are doing. It’s what the kid you’ve had a class with every semester but don’t know that well is doing. It’s what you’ve critiqued in class and loved or could care less about. It’s a catalog of what the revolving cast of people you sit next to day after day and walk past month after month for four years are thinking about, dreaming about, wishing for, and mostly, just trying to understand. Inside this catalog are your concerns, your questions, your fears and your successes. Inside this catalog is you. So, I’ll return to the question. What makes a photograph good? What makes a photograph worth looking at? I believe by looking at the work in this catalog you’ll be able to see how you’ve answered this question for yourselves. With all my love, Sasha Phyars-Burgess Visiting Artist 2019-2020
Delilah Anaya Arda Asena Jennifer Arter Elsa Berrien Libby Boyd Andrew Boynton Nicolette Buzonas Billie Carter-Rankin Edward Chao Nemo (Xinxu) Chen Brian Cheng Caroline Chidester Jenny Cho Romario Defour Chloe Eachus Chelsea Emuakhagbon Connor Fenwick Sarahi Garcia Janet Han Yuxian He Cissy Huang Lena Ehsan Jafery Natalie Jenks Nicolas John Rachel Kobb Grace Kromah Yuanmei Lai Xuanchen Li Margaret Liang Tristan Martinez Roxy McHaffey
Liv Meyer Scawah Miller William Morillo Xin Hui Angelica Ong Alayna Pernell Laura Petersen Abigail Price Jenny Rafalson Marge Rendell Brennen Rhoades Mary Rocha Katya Sadoff Jacob Sarasohn Yinan Shan Zhiying Tang Megan Tepper Amanda Thomas Sydney Vanderlinden Jennifer Villanueva Larisa Wade Vivian Wan Ruoqi Wang Yuanzhe Wang Nat Ware William Watson Claire Wei Joel Whitely Qianchou Xie Bin Yu Ang Zheng Lansi Zhou
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Alayna Pernell Precious Eyes 2019
9
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Brennen Rhoades The Piano Teacher 2019
11
Megan Tepper Untitled (Everyone Does) 2019
12
Caroline Chidester Sanctimony 2018
13
William Watson De’Von Bailey/William Watson 2019
14
Jennifer Arter Traversing the kitchen Plane 2019
15
Andrew Boynton To My Father, Farewell 2019
16
Natalie Jenks Bodily Use and Refuse 2018
17
Yuanmei Lai On the Beach 2019
18
Margaret Liang An Exquisite Feast #4 2019
19
Joel Whitely Claesz 2019
20
Marge Rendell Untitled 2019
21
Nicolas John Bedroom Window 2019
22
Sydney Vanderlinden blanketface 2019
23
Yuanzhe Wang Nine-Headed Phoenix V.1 2019
24
Romario Defour woman and shadow 2019
25
Chloe Eachus Stacked 2019
26
Vivian Wan Del Rey 2017
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Nemo (Xinxu) Chen Jinhua Cat 2019
29
Katya Sadoff Untitled (On Being Read) 2019
30
William Morillo Untitled 2019
31
Jenny Rafalson Yearning and Misapprehension 2019
32
Edward Chao Spiral 2017
33
Jacob Sarasohn Untitled 2019
34
Nicolette Buzonas Life On The Very Big Rock 2018
35
Elsa Berrien The Old Bridge at the Head of Pleasant Pond, West Gardiner, ME 2019
36
Mary Rocha Casual Sunday 2019
37
Rachel Kobb Play house 2019
38
Tristan Martinez Waiting for Your Call 2019
39
Scawah Miller Vroom Vroom 2019
40
Ruoqi Wang No Way Back 2017
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Cissy Huang Catch (Flower) 2019
43
Delilah Anaya Jimmy 2017
44
Janet Han Untitled 2019
45
Brian Cheng Untitled (#318) 2019
46
Yuxian He Broad Channel 2018
47
Amanda Thomas Divine Light 2019
48
Lena Ehsan Jafery Bloom I 2019
49
Zhiying Tang The Guiding Stone 2019
50
Libby Boyd Speed Limit 25 2019
51
Jennifer Villanueva Get in loser, we’re going to church. 2019
52
Connor Fenwick Windows (Weimar and Berlin) 2018
53
Claire Wei Untitled 2019
54
Roxy McHaffey Urban Garden 2019
55
Bin Yu Rose Peak 2019
56
Abigail Price Dentist 2019
57
Larisa Wade Feminizing Emily 2019
58
Chelsea Emuakhagbon Cj 2019
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Qianchou Xie Resonance 2018
61
Ang Zheng Untitled 2019
62
Nat Ware Contortions in Intimacy (4) 2019
63
Sarahi Garcia Reflejo 2019
64
Xin Hui Angelica Ong Casino 2019
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Lansi Zhou Untitled series3 #1 2019
67
Jenny Cho In Wonderland 2019
68
Billie Carter-Rankin For Ira and Michael 2019
69
Liv Meyer Soft Sacrifice 2018
70
Laura Petersen Untitled 2019
71
Xuanchen Li Butterfly 2019
72
Grace Kromah Deimah 2019
73
Yinan Shan The Container 2019
74
Arda Asena Untitled (Alphonso) 2019
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Delilah Anaya MFA 2021 delilahphoto.com Page #43
Nicolette Buzonas BFA 2020 nicolettebuzonas.com Page #34
Jenny Cho BFA 2022 instagram.com/photo.m.c_ Page #67
Janet Han BFA 2020 janethan.myportfolio.com Page #44
Arda Asena MFA 2021 www.ardasena.com Page #75
Billie Carter-Rankin MFA 2020 billiecarterrankin.com Page #68
Romario Defour BFA 2021 Page #24
Yuxian He BFA 2022 instagram.com/lumino.hyx Page #46
Jennifer Arter BFA 2021 Page #14
Edward Chao BFA 2020 edwardchao.com Page #32
Chloe Eachus Cissy Huang BFA 2020 BFA 2021 chloeeachus.wordpress.com Page #42 Page #25
Elsa Berrien BFA 2020 Page #35
Nemo (Xinxu) Chen BFA 2021 xinxuchen.weebly.com Page #28
Chelsea Emuakhagbon MFA 2020 Page #59
Lena Ehsan Jafery BFA 2020 Lenaehsan.com Page #48
Libby Boyd BFA 2023 Page #50
Brian Cheng BFA 2020 Page #45
Connor Fenwick BFA 2020 connorfenwick.com Page #52
Natalie Jenks BFA 2020 Nataliejenks.com Page #16
Andrew Boynton BFA 2022 andrewboynton.format.com Page #15
Caroline Chidester BFA 2021 carolinechidester.squarespace.com Page #12
Sarahi Garcia BFA 2022 sgarcia6.myportfolio.com Page #63
Nicolas John BFA 2020 nicolasjohn.work Page #21
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Rachel Kobb BFA 2021 Page #37
Roxy McHaffey BFA 2021 Page #54
Laura Petersen BFA 2020 laurapetersenphoto.com Page #70
Katya Sadoff BFA 2020 katyasadoff.com Page #29
Grace Kromah BFA 2020 Page #72
Liv Meyer BFA 2022 instagram.com/dada. issue.art Page #69
Abigail Price BFA 2021 abigailmprice.com Page #56
Jacob Sarasohn BFA 2022 jacobsarasohn.com Page #33
Yuanmei Lai BFA 2020 yuanmei-lai.com Page #17
Scawah Miller BFA 2021 scawah.com Page #39
Jenny Rafalson MFA 2020 jennyrafalson.com Page #31
Yinan Shan BFA 2021 yinanshan.me Page #73
Xuanchen Li BFA 2019 xuanchenli.com Page #71
William Morillo BFA 2022 Page #30
Marge Rendell BFA 2020 margerendellart.com Page #20
Zhiying Tang BFA 2021 Page #49
Margaret Liang BFA 2021 margaretliangphotography. com Page #18
Xin Hui Angelica Ong BFA 2023 instagram.com/catching sunlight_ Page #65
Brennen Rhoades BFA 2022 instagram.com/brennen. png Page #10
Megan Tepper MFA 2020 megantepper.com Page #11
Tristan Martinez BFA 2020 tristanmartinezphoto.com Page #38
Alayna Pernell MFA 2021 alaynanpernell.com Page #9
Mary Rocha BFA 2022 Page #36
Amanda Thomas BFA 2020 agracethomas.myportfolio. com Page #47
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Sydney Vanderlinden BFA 2020 clavichord-cat-kwlt. squarespace.com Page #22
Nat Ware BFA 2022 nat-ware.com Page #62
Ang Zheng MFA 2020 tekazheng.com Page #61
Jennifer Villanueva BFA 2020 Page #51
William Watson BFA 2020 williampwatson.com Page #13
Lansi Zhou BFA 2020 Page #66
Larisa Wade MAATC 2020 larisawade.com Page #57
Claire Wei BFA 2021 Page #53
Vivian Wan BFA 2019 Vivianwan.studio Page #27
Joel Whitely BFA 2020 joelwhitely.com Page #19
Ruoqi Wang MFA 2021 ruoqiwang.com Page #41
Qianchou Xie BFA 2020 guyxie.com Page #60
Yuanzhe Wang BFA 2020 instagram.com/rockanartist Page #23
Bin Yu BFA 2022 yubin.myportfolio.com Page #55
Special Thanks Robert Clarke-Davis Catherine Gass Alan Labb Mayumi Lake Sasha Phyars-Burgess Dana West and Lewis Toby & Family
Catalog Committee Scawah Miller WIlliam Watson Joel Whitely
Photography, Edition Eleven Copyright Š 2020. Joel Whitely William Watson Scawah Miller All right reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder. All images used by permission of the artist. All other rights in and to such images are reserved.