Eli Craven in Practice and Residency
February 2, 1pm
Lilly Auditorium, IUPUI University Library
755 West Michigan Street
Free and open to the public

Join Aurora PhotoCenter and the Herron community for an artist’s talk with Eli Craven, who was the August 2022 Aurora + Herron Artist in Residence. Craven spent two weeks in the amazing Herron School of Art darkrooms experimenting with found negatives using physical collage, double/multiple exposure, and assemblage. The artist will give a talk about his practice leading up to the residency, the work he produced during his time at Herron, and how the residency continues to influence his practice. Craven will answer questions from the audience at the end of his presentation.

This artist’s talk is free and open to the public. The event is organized by Herron School of Art and Design’s photography degree program in partnership with Aurora PhotoCenter.

Craven writes about his work, “I work conceptually with photographic images by re-evaluating the physical and psychological potential of the picture through sculptural and digital interventions. The works exist somewhere between the image and object, attempting to connect the representation to some form of reality. I am interested in the ubiquitous and mundane imagery of family portraiture, self-help books, and instructional guides, which, upon close inspection, allude to a range of human fears and emotions. The research begins with the acts of looking and collecting then progresses to a critical investigation of the image and its relationship to ideologies of sexuality, desire, and death.”

Eli Craven (elicraven.com) is an artist based in Lafayette, Indiana. He received a BFA from Boise State University in 2011 and an MFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2016. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Photography at Purdue University.

Aurora PhotoCenter thanks Herron School of Art + Design for its support of this event.