Liz Steketee

liz steketee photography10 Madrona Street San Rafael, CA, 94901 http://www.lizsteketee.com• phone: 415-497-9206• mailto:lizstek@comcast.net 1988-Philip’s Academy, Andover, Mass. 1992-University Of Michigan, BFA photography, Ann Arbor, Mi. 2004-San Francisco Art Institute, MFA, photography, SF, CA. 2009-Present, Faculty Member, Photo Dept., San Francisco Art Institute Gallery Representation, Stephen Cohen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA http://www.stephencohengallery.com Liz lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two children where she maintains her own art practice. Additionally, Liz is a member of the photo faculty at the San Francisco Art Institute where she specializes in digital imaging and compositing, digital printing, and the handmade book. In 2011, Nazraeli Press published Liz’s work in a One Picture Book, Dystopia. In 2002, Liz published a hardcover photography book examining fly fishing guides of the American West, Castwork. In 2005, Liz completed her MFA at the San Francisco Art Institute. At SFAI, Liz received the prestigious John Collier Award of Excellence for her Masters thesis project. This project was based on the turbulent circumstances surrounding the birth of Liz’s first child, Emma. After completing her graduate studies, Liz dedicated her work fully to art practice and teaching. Liz’s personal work focuses the subject of family dynamics and domestic life. Sub texts in her work explore the notions of photography and its role in family life, memory, and our sense of self. I use my life as material for my work. By doing this, I am able to explore the conflicts that exist within the everyday and the richness that is found in the mundane. I feel strongly that life and art belong together, intertwined in everyday experiences. I began doing this in earnest when I got married and started a family. The shift in responsibility that accompanied becoming a parent, led to my use of real life as subject matter for my art. I felt greatly challenged by the prospect of guiding another human’s life and to best understand it, I turned the camera on it. From these documentary images, I create composites or “paintings” that define my vision of experience. Through the use of montage, collage, and purposeful juxtaposition of images, it is my intention to present the “truth” of life. I alter, chop, merge, and recompose photographic elements. This process allows me to represent a moment, a memory, or life’s reality as I see it. I disrupt linear structures and confuse elements of time and space to convey my notion of how life truly exists; a combination of independent moments that converge to leave us with a unique experience. This process is intended to jar the viewer and call into question our history through memory and as photographic document. Liz Steketee, 2014