Eleanor currently resides in Detroit, Michigan. She is Associate Professor and Section Lead of Photography at the College for Creative Studies and was formerly the founder of Darkroom Detroit.
Education
Stanford University, MFA Art Practice
Princeton University, BA Visual Arts + Art History, cum laude
Solo Exhibitions
2024: love’s labor, Valade Family Gallery, Detroit, MI
2023: Eleanor Oakes, Belle Isle Viewing Room, Detroit, MI
2022: exposure / lots lots, The Photography Gallery at Riley Hall, University of Notre Dame, IN
2019: Barnes Hall, Tyler Wood Gallery, Long Island City, NY
2016: Graffiti Wanted, 849 Henry St, Detroit, MI
2015: Residual Loop, Tyler Wood Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Honors / Awards / Residencies
The Center Annual Award, Selected by Leo Hsu, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX, 2024
Flourish Fund Grant Recipient, Culture Source + the Andy Warhol Foundation, Detroit, MI, 2023
PhMuseum Women Photographer Grant Shortlist, Bologna, Italy, 2022
Ponyride Detroit Applebaum Emerging Artist Resident, 2015 - 2016
Anita Squires Fowler Award, Stanford University, 2014
Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Awards, 2013
Flash Forward, Magenta Foundation, 2012
25 Under 25: Up-And-Coming American Photographers, Center for Documentary Studies and powerHouse Books, 2007
Francis LeMoyne Page Visual Arts Award, Princeton University, 2007
Lawrence P. Wolfen 1987 Award, Princeton University, 2006
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024: send me anything, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX
2024: Becoming: The Feminist Image, PhotoSC, Columbia, SC
2024: Inner Sanctuaries, Strata Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2023: In dreams I walk with you, Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburgh, PA
2023: Center Forward 2023, Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO
2023: FAINT, Wasserman Projects, Detroit, MI
2023: Glimpse, Radius Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA
2023: Get Together, Reyes | Finn, Detroit, MI
2023: Objects of Affection, Wasserman Works at Wasserman Projects, Detroit, MI
2022: Double Life, Elaine Jacob Gallery, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
2021: Edition 365, 1854 Media, ART3.io
2020: Context 2020, Filter Space, Chicago, IL
2019: We The People, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA
2018: Edition 18, Simone de Sousa Gallery, Detroit, MI
2018: Uncertain Times, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
2017: Community, Playground Detroit, Detroit, MI
2017: An Annual Affair, Frontrunner Collective, New York, NY
2017: Round in Circles, N’Namdi Gallery, Detroit, MI
2014: Hidden Rooms, International Festival of Video + Performance Art, Palazzo Ca' Zanardi, Venice, Italy
2014: Half Tilt Full Lean, Thomas Welton Gallery, Stanford, CA
2013: Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Awards Exhibition, SOMArts, San Francisco, CA
2013: Before Your Very Eyes, Performance Studies International #19, Stanford, CA
2013: MFA Now, Root Division, San Francisco, CA
2013: Arsenal, Thomas Welton Gallery, Stanford, CA
2008: 25 Under 25: Up-And-Coming American Photographers, Gulf and Western Gallery, New York, NY
Bibliography
“milk and tears,” Beyond. Heidelberg, Germany: Kalamari Klub, Fall 2022.
“Renovations, January 2018,” Detroit Sequential. Detroit, MI: Rotland Press, Fall 2019.
“Removed,” LOSTiN Detroit. Berlin, Germany: LOSTin City Guides, October 2019.
“Detroit Voter Portraits,” Beyond. Heidelberg, Germany: Kalamari Klub, June 2019.
“Detroit in Piles” (Author), Infinite Mile. February 2016 Print Release. Detroit, MI. Available online.
Flash Forward - Emerging Photographers 2012. Toronto, Ontario: Magenta Publishing for the Arts, 2012.
25 Under 25: Up-And-Coming American Photographers, Vol. 2., Brooklyn, New York: powerHouse Books and the Center for Documentary Studies, 2008.
Ebbing Borders, Flowing Lives: Articulating Reality in a Northeastern Megalopolis. Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, 2006.
Selected Publications + Press
“Eleanor Oakes,” Interview with Elizabeth Ransom on Women Alternative Photography Group, October 2023.
Myesha Johnson, “150 Metro Detroit Artists on Display in Corktown,” The Detroit News, March 2023.
“Eleanor Oakes, milk and tears,” Fast Forward Women in Photography, Oct 2022.
“Unwrapping with Eleanor Oakes,” Culture Volt, Oct 2021.
Stephanie Steinberg, “Darkroom Detroit gives photographers a home to create,” The Detroit News, Sep 2017.
Tanya Moutzalias, “Public Art Project Encourages Graffiti on Wall Near Downtown Detroit,” MLive, June 2016.
Stephanie Steinberg, “Photographer Seeks Detroit Graffiti for Art Project,” The Detroit News, May 2016.
Playground Detroit, “Graffiti Wanted: A Public Art Project in Detroit,” Playground Detroit, April 2016.
Emily Colucci, “Eleanor Oakes: Photographing Absences,” Filmrunner Magazine, Feb 2016.
Anton Stuebner, “Review: Eleanor Oakes,” Art Practical, May 2015.
Luca Curci, “Interview: Eleanor Oakes,” It’s Liquid, Jan 2014.