With an exhibit that explores how contemporary artists are “creating photography about photography,” the School of Arts and Humanities opens a new season of visual art.

Suzanne Williams

Suzanne Williams’ series of photos is titled Cognizant.

Photography & Materiality examines how digital technology has guided the transformation of photographers’ attitudes toward the medium. The exhibit is currently on display in the Visual Arts Building.

“The artists in this exhibition seek to transcend representation, to investigate the potential of abstraction, working in the studio to connect to traditions in collage, painting and sculpture, while often being informed by digital processes,” said Marilyn Waligore, professor of aesthetic studies and curator of the exhibit.

Artists represented in the show include Arts and Technology (ATEC) doctoral student Mona Kasra, whose video sequences feature “selfies” that circulate on social media websites in response to various environmental, economic, political and social issues around the world.

Suzanne Williams’ series of photos, Cognizant, is designed to raise awareness of the suffering endured by chronically ill children.

Briana Hall

Frame of Reference by Briana Hall exhibit explores image and text.

“By meticulously covering rooms in my apartment in 1 ½-inch colored squares, a parallel is drawn to the considerable amount of time home care requires. A correlation is also drawn to the pain and effort patients experience with these diseases,” said Williams. “Each room’s color was chosen based on the awareness ribbon of the illness.”

An opening reception for Photography & Materiality will be held at 6:30 p.m. Friday. A panel discussion about the exhibit will take place at CentralTrak, UT Dallas’ artists residency and gallery, at 7 p.m. Feb. 6.

In the Mezzanine Gallery at the Visual Arts Building, UT Dallas undergraduate Briana Hall is showing her work in an exhibit titled Frame of Reference. Hall’s work considers the relationship between image and text.

Both exhibits are on display until Feb. 15.