Cindy Elizabeth, Final Frontier, 2019
Food Shelter Water features the work of four Texas-based photographers who address themes related to our most basic human needs. Barriers to these resources reflect the baseline issues surrounding social justice and equity within American society and around the world.
This exhibition is a collaboration between The Art Galleries (TAG) at Austin Community College and ACC’s Department of Professional Photography (The.DPP).
Artists
Verónica G. Cárdenas is a documentary photographer, video-, and photojournalist based in McAllen, Texas. Their work documents the journeys of migrants and asylum seekers to the U.S border, and has been published in major publications, such as Reuters, The Texas Tribune, TIME Magazine, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
Their past awards include an International Women’s Media Foundation fellowship, participation in the XXXI Eddie Adams Workshop, and completion of a three-year mentorship program with James Estrin and Ed Kashi. In 2019, Cárdenas gave a TEDx Talk on their experience of becoming a photographer and documenting journeys migrants take by freight trains to the United States.
As a Mexican immigrant who has spent a large portion of their life in the Rio Grande Valley, Cárdenas’ work has been influenced by living along the border. They provide a global audience with perspectives on the effects of migration and immigration in intimate stories about identity and well being.
Stephanie Duprie Routh is a freelance photographer based in Austin, Texas. Her work documents people and places around the world and provides glimpses of diverse cultures. Her photographs have been exhibited in the United States, Japan, and India, and published by FRAMES Magazine, National Geographic Traveler, and The Austin Chronicle.
Her photographs are held by The Wittliff Collections, Texas A&M University, The Loren at Lady Bird Lake, and Concordia University. In 2021, Duprie Routh published her monograph, Where the Ocean Drinks the Sky, which combines street-,and fine art photography.
As a South Texas native, Duprie Routh extensively travels beyond Texas to Mexico, India, and the Mediterranean. She frequently revisits places to document the visible changes in local cultures. Much of her work is based around bodies of water and the ways in which residents interact with their environments.
Cindy Elizabeth is a freelance portrait and documentary photographer living and working in Austin, Texas. Her work has been featured in major publications including Vogue, Bloomberg, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Texas Tribune, GQ Magazine, and Equal Justice Initiative.
Elizabeth’s work has been exhibited at Martha’s Contemporary Gallery, The George Washington Carver Museum, ICOSA Gallery, Women and Their Work Gallery, and The University of Texas at Austin. Elizabeth is an alumni of ACC’s Professional Photography program.
Born and raised in East Austin, she is best known for documenting Austin’s Black community at events such as car club meet-ups and annual Juneteenth parades. Her photographs reflect themes of social justice and explore the celebration of everyday life.
Jamie Robertson is a visual artist and an educator from Houston, Texas. In her work, she focuses on capturing the history of the African diaspora present within her current life and childhood. She earned a BA in Art and MFA in Studio Art from the University of Houston, and an MS in Art Therapy from Florida State University.
She is currently a Lecturer at Sam Houston State University. Roberston is a recipient of numerous awards and her work has been featured in galleries and festivals internationally.
An East Texas native, Roberston has reflected on her extended family’s history, and those of other Black communities in the South in her artistic projects. Her focus on telling undertold–or intentionally omitted–stories of African Americans is a feature of her ongoing work.
Exhibition Highlights
Jamie Robertson, Kitchen Sink, 2020, digital photograph
Jamie Robertson, Night Fall at the Family Reunion, 2018 ,digital photograph
Verónica G. Cárdenas, Migrants, mostly Haitians, cross back and forth on the Rio Grande to Ciudad Acuña, México and Del Rio, Texas, 2021, digital photograph
Verónica G. Cárdenas, Jeancarlos from Guatemala, age 6, at a makeshift encampment where he has been waiting with his mother and brother to seek asylum in the U.S. , in Tijuana, México, 2018, digital photograph
Cindy Elizabeth, Final Frontier, 2019, Austin, TX
Cindy Elizabeth, 3ft and Rising, 2019, digital photograph
Stephanie Duprie Routh, Playtime or Bath time? Both., 2021, digital photograph
Stephanie Duprie Routh, Echoes of the Arabian Desert on the Nile , 2021, digital photograph
Related Programming
March 7, 2023 - TAG Tuesday: Exploring Artworks in the Exhibition (Part One) with Photography Professor Maja Buck
Meeting Place: Highland Campus, Gallery 4000 (HLC 4.2150)
This TAG Tuesday session focuses on Food, Shelter, Water – a collaboration between TAG and the Department of Professional Photography (The.DPP). In this session, Professor Maja Buck will choose two of the four total exhibition photographers to explore with our audience.
March 21, 2023 - TAG Tuesday: Exploring Artworks in the Exhibition (Part Two) with Photography Professor Bret Brookshire
Meeting Place: Highland Campus, Gallery 4000 (HLC 4.2150)
This TAG Tuesday session focuses on Food, Shelter, Water – a collaboration between TAG and the Department of Professional Photography (The.DPP). In this session, Professor Bret Brookshire will choose two of the four total exhibition photographers to explore with our audience.
April 6, 2023 - Artists in Conversation
The Art Galleries at ACC, the Department of Professional Photography (The.DPP) and the Arts and Digital Media Division will hosts a hybrid Artists in Conversation event held in conjunction with the Spring 2023 exhibition Food, Shelter, Water.
The following guests will join Gallery Director, Peter Bonfitto, on Thursday, April 6 from 5:00pm to 7:00pm on ACC Highland Campus for this live-streamed and in-person roundtable event.