Eleanor is a photographic artist whose practice reconsiders a feminist view of history to reveal connections between bodily, spatial, and geologic memories. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including solo exhibitions at Belle Isle Viewing Room (Detroit), and Tyler Wood Gallery (New York and San Francisco), and recent group exhibitions at the Houston Center for Photography (Houston), Filter Space (Chicago), Silver Eye Center for Photography (Pittsburgh), and Wasserman Projects (Detroit).
She is the recipient of a Flourish Fund grant from Culture Source and the Andy Warhol Foundation, the Center Annual Award from the Houston Center for Photography, a Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Award from the San Francisco Foundation, and an Applebaum Emerging Artist Residency, among others. Oakes earned her MFA in Art Practice from Stanford University and a BA in Art and Art History from Princeton University.
Currently residing in Detroit, Michigan, she is Associate Professor and Section Lead of Photography at the College for Creative Studies and was the Founder of Darkroom Detroit, a non-profit with the mission of making photography facilities and education accessible in Detroit.
CV
EDUCATION
2014 Stanford University, MFA Art Practice
2007 Princeton University, BA Visual Arts + Art History, Cum Laude
SOLO + TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
* Indicates two-person exhibition
2025 Upcoming: Eleanor Oakes + Katie Schulman, Ann Arbor Art Center, Ann Arbor, MI *
2024 love’s labor, Valade Gallery, Detroit, MI
2023 milk and tears, 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, Public Art Project at 849 Henry St, Detroit, MI
2015 Residual Loop, Tyler Wood Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2015 Barnes Hall 2012-2014, Anne Reid ’72 Art Gallery, Princeton, NJ
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 send me anything, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX
2024 Lessons on Coping, Hatch Art, Hamtramck, MI
2024 Art Fair | Detroit, Boyer Campbell Building, Detroit, MI
2024 Detroit Lens: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Detroit Artists Market, Detroit, MI
2024 (S)light of Hand, Photographer’s Eye Collective, Escondido, CA
2024 Echoes of the Past, The Light Factory, Charlotte, NC
2024 Solace in Nature, Light Art Space, Silver City, NM
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
2022 Carriage House, Bas Blue, 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 Round in Circles, N’Namdi Gallery, Detroit, MI
2017 An Annual Affair, Frontrunner Collective, New York, NY
2014 Hidden Rooms, 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
AWARDS / GRANTS / RESIDENCIES
2025 Artist Residency in Motherhood, Virtual
2024 Artist-in-Residence, AADK Spain, Blanca, Spain
2024 The Center Annual Award, Selected by Leo Hsu, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX
2022 Flourish Fund Grant Recipient, Culture Source + the Andy Warhol Foundation, Detroit, MI
2022 PhMuseum Women Photographer Grant Shortlist, Bologna, Italy
2016 Applebaum Emerging Artist Resident, Ponyride, Detroit, MI
2015 Honorable Mention, Camera Club of New York, New York, NY
2014 Selected Artist, Dave Bown Projects, New York, NY
2014 Anita Squires Fowler Award, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
2013 Murphy & Cadogan Contemporary Art Award, The San Francisco Foundation, San Francisco, CA
2012 Flash Forward 2012, Magenta Foundation, Toronto, Ontario
2007 Francis LeMoyne Page Visual Arts Award, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
2006 Lawrence P. Wolfen 1987 Award, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
BIBLIOGRAPHY
“Process” (Author), Plume, Issue 5: Play. Detroit, MI: College for Creative Studies Library, Fall 2024.
“love’s labor,” Fraction Magazine, Issue 177, Summer 2024, Online.
“milk and tears,” Beyond. Heidelberg, Germany: Kalamari Klub, Fall 2022 Print Release.
“Renovations, January 2018,” Detroit Sequential. Detroit, MI: Rotland Press, Fall 2019.
“Removed,” LOSTiN Detroit. Berlin, Germany: LOSTin City Guides, October 2019 Print Release.
“Detroit Voter Portraits,” Beyond. Heidelberg, Germany: Kalamari Klub, June 2019 Print Release.
“Detroit in Piles” (Author), Infinite Mile. Detroit, MI, February 2016 Print Release.
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 REVIEWS + 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.
SELECTED CURATORIAL + SPECIAL PROJECTS
Media Producer and Artist Collaborator, ON DURATION, AADK, Blanca, Spain. 2024.
Curator and Event Producer, Electronic Landscapes: Music, Space and Resistance in Detroit, ft. Isaac Diggs, Edward Hillel, Sterling Toles, John “Jammin” Collins, and Miz Korona (online). 2021.
Curatorial Consultant, Last Ice, ft. Amy Sacka, Scott Hocking, Michael McGillis and Valaurian Waller, Dossin Great Lakes Museum, Detroit, MI. 2021.
Co-curator and Creative Director with Ryan Ansel, Visualizing Corktown, Publication for Ford Motor Company in Partnership with the College for Creative Studies. 2021.
Co-Curator with Millee Tibbs, Preface, ft. Kris Graves, Darryl DeAngelo Terrell, Amy Elkins, Kia LaBeija, Jacob Krupnick. Darkroom Detroit, Detroit, MI. 2017.
SELECTED LECTURES / PANELS / WORKSHOPS
Upcoming: Presenter, Art of Experimentation: Symposium on Alternative Photographic Processes, Online. 2025.
Image-maker Lecture, Society for Photographic Education Midwest, Columbia College, Chicago, IL. 2023.
Instructor, Salt Printing Workshop, Radius Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA. 2023.
Presenter, Symposium for Artistic Research in Analog Photography, Helsinki Darkroom Festival, Helsinki, Finland. 2022.
Panel Moderator, Freep Film Festival, “Grain” Film Panel Discussion, Detroit, MI. 2022.