MIAD gallery offers photo students contemporary perspectives

In the photo area of the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, where digital technology and the darkroom intersect, the Perspectives Gallery shines its own light on contemporary image makers.

“The gallery presents contemporary image makers to the college as a way to complement classroom curriculum and interests,” says Grant Gill ’13 (Photography). As photography and digital media lab technician, Gill runs the gallery with Fine Art + New Studio Practice Professor Jon Horvath and student involvement.

MIAD Pre-College students use the lighting and photo studios.

“In the last 10 years alone, we’ve been able to share with our students the works of so many internationally recognized artists and photographers,” says Horvath, “including Pao Houa Her, Wendel White, Anastasia Samoylova, Donavon Smallwood, Alejandro Cartagena, Jess T. Dugan, Zora J. Murff, Erinn Springer – the list goes on and on.”

The current exhibition, “In Another Life,” shows works by visual artist Jorge Ariel Escobar through October 24. Escobar’s website describes him as “a queer Latinx image-maker whose photographic practice explores intimacy, desire and the ephemeral nature of queer connection.”

“I’m showing a mixture of new and old work; however, the old work has never been seen before in an exhibition setting,” Escobar says. “Conceptually I am speaking to the act of reconnecting with an old flame unexpectedly at different points in life. When I think back to my time with him at these two separate points, the richer toned lumen prints are how I choose to remember him.”

Escobar hopes that “students are able to take away that revisiting old work can inspire a whole new collection or series…. I feel often artists, in particular art students, assume that a certain series or project is complete after a certain point…. My art practice of using lumen prints and focusing on queer romances has evolved continuously throughout the past few years and I don’t see it ending anytime soon.”

“I also hope,” says Escobar, “that students can look at this exhibition and see that photography can be such a tactile medium, and exploring ways of printing images is essential to further bringing one’s concepts to life.”

Gill adds that in addition to shows during the academic year, “recently, over summers, we have been dedicating the gallery space to one recent graduate who works with photography and imaging. This is to give them an opportunity to show an expanded view of their senior thesis presentation.”

Hannah Samoy ‘25 (Fine Art + New Studio Practice; Arts Management) most recently expanded on her senior capstone project, “Balikbayan,” through the Perspectives exhibition “Between Us.” Lenscratch named Samoy a Top 25 Student to Watch in July 2025.

Visit the Perspectives Gallery in Room 299 and follow it on Instagram.