The Contemporary Photobook
Spring 2026 Advanced Photography Class
Explanation text
Hannah asbeck
Bio: Hannah Asbeck is a multimedia artist born in Maryville, Illinois and lived most of her life in southern Illinois. She currently resides in Caseyville, Illinois. Asbeck will receive her Bachelor of Fine Arts in photography from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in May of 2026. She has been president of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Photography club, treasurer of Sculptors at Wagner, and is currently a member of the Society for Photographic Education. She is both the recipient of the 2025 and 2026, Dr. Orville Joyner Photography/Digital Arts Award.
Asbeck draws inspiration for her work through her own experiences growing up as the daughter of a pastor in the Midwest. Her work focuses on themes of religious critique, family dynamics, generational curses, and domesticity. She utilizes a multimedia approach exhibiting both alternative processes of photography, instillation, performance, video, and composite photography.
Website: www.hannahasbeck.com
Instagram: @asbeckart
Project Statement: The conceptual foundation of this project, Line of Dissent, emerges from an examination of how shame and alienation experienced by traumatized caregivers contribute to the cyclical transmission of generational trauma. In particular, how unresolved emotional histories reverberate through family systems, shaping relational dynamics. This inquiry guides both the formal and material decisions within the work. Utilizing digitally manipulated and composited imagery, self-portraiture, video, and installation, I investigate the nuanced psychological terrain of family dynamics.
My own familial experiences serve as both subject and site of research, positioned alongside close engagement with psychological research on inherited and intergenerational trauma. Throughout the project, I intentionally employ familiar, often kitsch objects often passed down through families such as photographs, quilts, costume jewelry, and domestic furniture as accessible entry points for viewers to project their own memories and family associations onto the work. Beneath the nostalgia lies a more complicated tension. The objects become symbolic of the responsibility of inheritance itself. To receive what is left behind after someone’s passing is not only to handle material belongings, but also to confront emotional traumas, unresolved histories, and unspoken grief.
The more somber emotional weight of staged scenes and staged self-portraiture is intentionally juxtaposed with moments of subtle absurdity, particularly in composited recreations of early-2000s-style candid photographs, in which I perform as each member of my own family. In bringing these elements together, the work situates the body and the domestic artifact as parallel archives each carrying evidence of what has been suppressed and transmitted forward. This contrast between gravity and humor creates an atmosphere that remains open and approachable while still posing urgent questions: To what extent do inherited, historical, and parental traumas continue to shape descendants? And who bears the responsibility for interrupting and dismantling these cycles?
maia huddleston
Bio: Maia K. Huddleston is a neurodivergent photographer and artist from Illinois. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Interactive Media from Illinois State University and is working toward her MFA at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Maia was a 2023 Photolucida Critical Mass finalist. Through photography and the moving image, she highlights the personal relationships viewers build with their environments, particularly in places of significant social conflict. By combining imagery with text and interactive media techniques, she helps viewers overcome the cognitive and psychological distance associated with sociopolitical undereducation and common misinformation.
Website: maiakcreative.com
Instagram: @maiakphoto
Sydney Williams
jadie keck
Lindsey Bender
Bio: Lindsey Hertha Bender is a student at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, where she is pursuing her Bachelor
of Fine Arts in Photography. Since August of 2024, she has served as the photographer for the SIUE Athletics
Department, specializing in Men’s Soccer coverage, documenting training sessions, game-day action, and team
culture. Her experience extends beyond the classroom, building on a foundation in photography developed through
both academic coursework and prior creative practice. Her work emphasizes authenticity, emotion, and storytelling
within sports environments, capturing both the intensity of competition and the quieter moments behind the scenes.
Through her involvement with SIUE Athletics, she continues to develop her professional portfolio while gaining
hands-on experience in sports media production, content strategy, and athletic communications.
LinkedIn: Lindsey Hertha Bender
Instagram: @lindsey_bender_photography
Project Statement: Presence Beyond Performance focuses on documenting athletes beyond their performance on the field,
revealing the quieter, more human aspects that exist alongside the competition. My perspective is informed by my
three years of experience working closely with the SIUE Men’s Soccer Program. This period of access has allowed
me to build trust with the athletes and their environment. Because I am not an outsider looking in, but someone
consistently present, I am able to photograph moments that feel more intimate. The stillness, the preparation, and the
emotional weight athletes carry are key to understanding the athletes. Through photography, I aim to show athletes
not just as competitors, but as individuals with identities, routines, and internal worlds that extend far beyond the
game itself. My work will challenge the viewer to slow down and to view athletes as people first, rather than only
performers.
A central part of my process is observing light, especially the way shadows interact with the athlete and
their environment. I intentionally look for shadows that partially obscure or reveal form, using contrast to create a
sense of depth and introspection. The shadows symbolize the unseen aspects of the athletes: the pressure, discipline,
and personal experiences that shape who they are. Light becomes a tool not just for visibility, but for emotion,
allowing certain parts of the image to emerge while others remain quiet and unresolved.
Soccer is often defined by speed, intensity, and outcome; however, I am drawn to what exists amongst these
moments. I am focused closely on soccer equipment such as cleats, shin guards, uniforms, and other physical objects
tied to the sport. By isolating and highlighting these elements, I emphasize their significance and the ways they
extend the athlete’s identity. These objects carry physical wear, texture, and evidence of use, acting as visual records
of effort, repetition, and dedication.
Ultimately, my work exists to expand the narrative of sports media. Instead of centering only on speed and
action, my work highlights presence, absence, and the in-between moments. I will present this work through a series
of different sized photographic prints alongside mixed media artworks, incorporating physical and material elements
that reflect the layered identity of the athlete. My work invites viewers to reconsider what it means to document
sports; not just as competition, but as a deeply personal and human experience. Through my long-term connection
with the team, I aim to create a body of work that reflects not just what athletes do, but who they are.
Kelly gaines
Project Statement:
Surfacing the Interior reflects a meditative experience shaped by my journey through life. The series includes photographs of nature alongside self-portraits. The work is a combination of single photographs and layered compositions, of which sections are cut out using an X-Acto knife. These cut outs provide an abstraction to the photographs, encouraging a closer look at the space to see the details and the subtle shifts caused by the cut outs. The process of physically cutting out parts of the photos provides a meditative and thoughtful experience while creating the work, mirroring the experiences of the work itself. Including myself in some of the photographs allows a personal dialogue of meditation in nature. Balancing these self-portraits with photographs excluding my presence allows the environment to be fully seen and contemplated.
The series originates from being diagnosed with ADHD, depression, and anxiety in my twenties, and having to accept these and understand who I am as an adult. As a child, I often felt isolated in my mental health – I did not know why I was experiencing heightened anxiety and depression as compared to my peers. I masked these struggles frequently and found ways to alleviate my symptoms as best I could. Nature became a space for meditation and an escape. It provided relief.
The tensions between visibility and concealment are present in my work. Images that exclude my physical presence, alongside moments of abstraction, reflect the internal emotional landscapes I navigate daily. Nature functions both as a subject matter and as a space for meditation and understanding – one that can support those experiencing mental health challenges, whether chronic or temporary.
While not everyone is diagnosed with a mental health disorder, many people do experience stronger emotional struggles including anxiety, stress, and depression at some point in their life. People need ways to alleviate their tensions. Taking time to sit and look at the details, look at nature, reflect on life, is important. Taking time away from stress allows for reflection. It provides an opportunity to process, reset, and reconnect.
