Unconventional, risk-taking photography will be cropping up in workshops, exhibitions and lectures around Mississippi State University on Oct. 25-28 as the Society for Photographic Education South Central Regional Conference is hosted here for the third time in the span of over two decades, co-hosted by the Department of Art and the Department of Communication.
The society is a nonprofit organization that conference co-chair and assistant professor of photography and new media Wendy Roussin said “provides a forum for the discussion of photography and related media as a means of creative expression and cultural insight.” According to Roussin, this year’s conference theme “Nothing Ventured/Nothing Gained: The Creative Risk” focuses on innovations in photographers’ work and processes, especially in the South.
“(Professor of art) Marita (Goote)’s idea was that sometimes people don’t expect much out of Mississippi. Oh, going to school in the South, you’re in Mississippi. It’s about the creative process, taking a risk through that,” she said.
Keynote speaker Todd Hido and featured speakers Susan Burnstine and Kelli Connell will be giving lectures free of admission as part of the conference.
Assistant professor of art Dominic Lippilo, conference co-chair along with Gootee and Roussin, said the three artists chosen represent a breadth of innovation and interesting risks taken in photography.
“They address the three major physical sectors of photography: Todd Hido would be more traditional, Kelli Connell digital and Susan Burnstine alternative processes, through the making of her own cameras. They all take major risks in their work to unsafe levels, which takes it out of control,” he said.
Susan Burnstine will speak in Giles Auditorium at 6 p.m. on Thursday. In McComas Theater, Dornith Doherty will speak at noon on Friday, Todd Hido will speak at 4:30 p.m. on Friday and Kelli Connell will speak at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.
As well as lectures from the photographers, the conference brings a canon of innovative work hanging on campus until Nov. 2. Along with Dornith Doherty, SPESC honored educator and recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the featured speakers will have a combined show of their works, “Nothing Ventured/Nothing Gained: The Creative Risk” hanging in the McComas Gallery. The “SPE Members’ Exhibition and Antiquarian Avant-Garde Photography: Works by the North Texas Alternative Process Group” exhibition will hang in the Visual Arts Center Gallery. As well as national and professional level work, student adviser and senior photography major and Riley Reid said Society of Photographic Education students from across the south central region will have an exhibition of their work hanging in the Colvard Student Union Gallery.
“A group of 10 students curated; there are several pieces that are alternative processes, they did very unique things and submitted with that in mind. There are a lot of Mississippi State students who have work in there,” she said.
The conference grows the seeds that have been planted with the Maroon Edition and Betty Press’ “African Wisdom in Image and Proverb” photography exhibition; Lippilo said Rather than existing exclusive to a specific audience, the conference is a way of creating commonality.
“Photography is a communication system, bringing dialogue and idea to an audience. You can still enjoy that even if you’re not behind the lense,” he said.
For uninhibited conference attendance to all talks, panel discussions, workshops and a jazz party, Department of Art and Department of Communication students pay $15 and students in other departments pay $25.
For more information and a more detailed schedule, visit southcentral.spenational.org.