Lily Brooks

Over a decade of sustained creative research and production, Assistant Professor of Photography Lily Brooks has developed a series of interrelated projects that speak to the depth of her commitment and potential as an artist.

“Broadly, my works engage in visual dialogue with existing systems and structures of control – political, personal, economic, and environmental – and marks our efforts to understand, escape and navigate them,” she said. “Rooted in my own experiences, my practice often brings me to question our complicated relationship to the natural world.” 

Visual Art + Design Department Head Dale Newkirk said Brooks’ series, “We Have to Count the Clouds,” visually represents the artifacts and tools used to measure the weather as a way of exploring climate change and its relationship to rural and urban nature.

“Professor Brooks is an energetic and devoted artist and researcher,” he said. “I have often been impressed by the detailed historical research behind her images. She is a great communicator of visual ideas and is willing to take on difficult social-political issues, such as climate change and systemic racism.”

Though her specific interest in researching the climate crisis began before moving to Louisiana, living here has cemented and expanded her dedication to this subject matter, Brooks said. 

“My current project, The Spillway, explores the layered history of the Bonnet Carre’ Spillway and the relationship between capitalism, slavery and climate change in our regional landscape, Brooks said. “This project employs photographs, video, and sound recording to examine the local in the hope of connecting Louisiana to global discourse.” 

Brooks’ photography has been featured in 37 exhibitions, eight of which were solo shows. Her artwork was included in eight exhibitions in 2020, which Newkirk noted is impressive for any artist. She has also curated exhibitions and organized lectures, conferences and symposiums, and her artwork has been featured on NPR and reviewed by the Los Angeles Times. 

“What makes Lily’s artwork unique is her personal connection to each site and her willingness to bring her own subjective concerns, vulnerabilities, and individual narratives to each series,” said Associate Professor of New Media + Animation Cristina Molina. “Lily’s masterful approach to photographic technique paired with a powerful sense of visual poetry is no doubt what has gained her work recognition at some of the most respected institutions, such as the New Orleans Museum of Art, The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, The U.S. Magenta Foundation, and Art Pace International.”

Newkirk said the publication of photography in exhibits has become increasingly difficult in recent years with everyone carrying sophisticated cameras in their phones, which creates the impression that everyone is a photographer.

“This puts greater pressure on professional fine art photographers to create images that go beyond the everyday and become conveyors of meaning,” he said. “Lily Brooks achieves this through extensive research into her subject and through her sensitivity to place and light.”