Light Work is thrilled to welcome patrons back into our exhibition spaces for in-person self and staff-guided tours, openings, and artist talks. Tours are free and may be tailored to visitors’ interests. In reopening, Light Work pledges strict adherence to the most up-to-date COVID-19 safety protocols in order to protect patrons, artists, students, and staff.
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Best of Show: Tori Sampson
Runner Up: Keqin Wang
Honorable Mention:Marijke Pieters-Kwiers

Light Work announces the 2022 Art Photography Annual exhibition of photographs by seniors in the Department of Film and Media Arts in the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University. Many students work with Light Work throughout their undergraduate careers and become an integral source of the energy, passion, and excitement that define our organization. The staff and community congratulate all of these young artists on their accomplishments and wish them the best in their bright futures in the field of photography.

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Related Programming

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Light Work hosts a reception with the exhibiting artists on Thursday, February 3, from 5-7 p.m. The in-person reception is free and open to the public and includes refreshments.

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The exhibiting artists are Alice Adams, Luke Anaclerio, Lauren Bertelson, Marijke Pieters-Kwiers, Abigail Fritz, Corey Henry, Erik Liu, Qirui Ma, Paola Manzano, Tori Sampson, Keqin Wang, and Sarah Winn.

Artist and activist Jay Simple served as juror and selected images for Best of Show and Honorable Mention awards. Tori Sampson took Best of Show, with Runner-up to Keqin Wang, and Honorable Mention went to Marijke Pieters-Kwiers. Simple notes,

Over the course of nearly two years what we have known as “normal” has been disrupted, at times for better and for worse. Through these moments artists, like those included in this exhibition, have rededicated themselves to exploring, documenting, analyzing, and engaging with aspects of the human experience. Looking into these moments we find the breadth and complexity of our contemporary moment as we struggle and strive to come to terms with the mutuality of our isolation, the need for radical care of ourselves, and the relationships and connections that we hold dear. Melancholy and joy resonate in this space and hint that we must abandon a didactic aesthetic to embrace the nuanced complexity that arises from what a friend once called ‘the bittersweet quality of being alive.’ This is far from a defeated stance, and it is a recognition of the power artists have to show us our resiliency through adversity.

Professor Laura Heyman, coordinator of the Art Photography BFA program, says of this important yearly exhibition:

The annual Light Work exhibition is always an important experience for students working toward their senior thesis projects. In the process of working through their ideas, students often experiment with form and concept, and the projects change considerably over the course of the year. Over the years, art photography student projects have covered an incredible range of subjects, from deeply personal explorations of self and family, to topics like local environmental disasters and our current political landscape. This year is no different, but the Light Work exhibition feels more important than ever as a marker and in recognition of the amazing work our students are doing under very difficult, complicated circumstances.

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Jay Simple is a son, a brother, a father, a friend, an artist, an activist, and a scholar-led by his ancestors and Allah. He was born in Chicago and raised in Philadelphia, where he currently resides. He is Black and his life is eternal and multidimensional.