This was upper level work made over multiple semesters in my Photography Studio course.

The theatre exists in, and creates, a heightened reality where people go to escape. To Hold a Mirror is a photography project that explores the sense of community and identity within theatre students, both actors and designers, and the work that goes into a show that is rarely visible to the majority of theatre-goers. The in-between and sometimes mundane moments that make up the majority of the students’ experiences are more revealing of the subculture than the performances. The sense of community forged among them becomes like a found family, one strengthened by their interactions with the space and with each other. -Katie Norton

Drew utilizes several different steps and materials in the production of his images. The original images were created using a computer-rendering program that has commercial applications to video game graphics. He then used a view camera to photograph the screen of his computer to create a photographic negative. Drew then scanned his film, made tonal adjustments in Photoshop, and printed onto inkjet transparencies. Finally Drew made contact prints in the darkroom from the transparencies. These pieces eventually led to his monograph that was published by Yoffy Press and Fw: Books, which was recently shortlisted for Aperture’s Paris Photo book awards.

Childbirth is one of the most natural and uncomfortable experiences, and only women undergo it. While this strength that all women share is incredible, the ability to bring life into the world is simultaneously used to define women as one identical unit. Some women choose to be mothers, but all women do not share that experience. Female identities are largely defined by cultural constructs of womanhood and motherhood. -Megan Hosmer

Shelby’s images are from the series There Was a Big Thunderstorm When I Was Born. She recently received her MFA from Cal Arts.