Kathleen Robbins (b. 1976) was born in Washington DC and raised in the Mississippi Delta. As a photographer she examines the intersection of memory, grief, and our physical relationship to the natural world. Her photographs have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in galleries and museums including The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, The New Orleans Photo Alliance, The Light Factory Museum of Contemporary Photography & Film, The Weatherspoon Museum, John Michael Kohler Art Center, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Addison Gallery of American Art, The Southeast Museum of Photography, the Society for Contemporary Photography, the Columbia Museum of Art, and the Mississippi Museum of Art. Robbins' work has been featured by CNN Photo Blog, Flak Photo, Fraction Magazine, Conscientious, Humble Arts New York, NPR’s Picture Show, and PDN’s Photo of the Day. Her work has been printed in the New York Times, Oxford American, and Garden and Gun. She was part of the 2012 Critical Mass top 50 and recipient of the 2011 PhotoNOLA Review Prize for her project Into the Flatland, which was published as a monograph in 2015.
Robbins earned a BA in Studio Art from Millsaps College and an MFA in Photography from the University of New Mexico. She resides in Columbia, SC, where she is is professor of art, coordinator of the photography program and affiliate faculty of southern studies at the University of South Carolina..
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
Professor of Art, University of South Carolina, 2016-present; Associate Professor, 2009-2016; Assistant Professor, 2003-2009.
Director of Graduate Studies, School of Visual Art and Design, University of South Carolina, 2025-2026.
Affiliate Faculty, Southern Studies, University of South Carolina, 2009-present.
Visiting Assistant Professor, Delta State University, 2002-2003.
EDUCATION
MFA Studio Art / Photography, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 1998-2001
BA. Studio Art / Photography, Millsaps College, Jackson, MS, 1994-1998
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Ginkgo, Tyrvee Gallery, Missolonghi, Greece (October 2021)
Into the Flatland, Museum of the Mississippi Delta, Greenwood, MS (March-July 2017)
Into the Flatland, Auburn University, Montgomery, AL (January-May 2016)
Into the Flatland, Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC (May-August 2016)
Into the Flatland, Lander University, Greenwood, SC (Fall 2016)
Into the Flatland, Workspace Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln NE (March - April 2014)
Into the Flatland, Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, College of Charleston, Charleston SC (August - October 2014)
Into the Flatland, Baum Gallery of Art, University of Central Arkansas, Conway AR (September – October 2014)
Into the Flatland, Rebekah Jacob Gallery, Charleston SC (September – October 2014)
Into the Flatland, Gandy Cultural Arts Center, USM, Long Beach, MS
Into the Flatland, University Museum, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS
Into the Flatland, New Orleans Photo Alliance, New Orleans, LA
Into the Flatland, Gallery at Wiljax, Cleveland, MS
Into the Flatland, Beard + Riser, Greenwood, MS
Into the Flatland, Greenville Tech, Taylors, SC
Into the Flatland, Dumois Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana
Into the Flatland, Mary Moffett Gallery, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, Louisiana
Into the Flatland, FAB GALLERY, South Carolina State University, Orangeburg, SC
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
At This Moment: Portraits of South Carolina Artists by Jerry Siegel, Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC
2024
Knowing Who We Are: The Rise of Abstraction, Vernacular Art and Photography, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA
2019
• Southbound: Photographs of and about the New South, Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charleston,
SC, Curated by: Mark Sloan and Mark Long
2018
• Vestige, David Lusk Gallery, Nashville, TN, Curated by: Jason Owen and Sam Easley
• Southern Icons A-Z, USC Beaufort, Pat Conroy Literary Festival
2017
• Southern Icons A-Z, Lamar Dodd Art Center and Visual Arts Museum, Lagrange College, Lagrange, GA
• Southern Routes, Virginia MOCA, Virginia Beach, VA, Participating Artists: Kelly Berry, Eliot Dudik, Grant
Ellis, Kate Medley, Tammy Mercure, Brian Palmer, Tamara Reynolds, Kathleen Robbins, Jerry Siegel, and
Aaron Turner.
• A Place and Time II: Photographs from the Permanent Collection 1946-present, Ogden Museum of
Southern Art, New Orleans, LA, Curated by Richard McCabe, Participating Artists: Henri Cartier-
Bresson, Clarence John Laughlin, Ernest Withers, Ogle Winston Link, Bruce Davidson, William
Christenberry, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, William Eggleston, Sr., Roland L. Freeman, Debbie
Fleming Caffery, Birney Imes, Oraien Catledge, Sally Mann, Mark Steinmetz
2015
• Fraction of a Second, 516 ARTS, Albuquerque NM, Curated by David Bram, Participating Artists: Leon
Alesi (Asheville, NC), Liz Arenberg (Brooklyn, NY), Thomas Barrow (Albuquerque, NM), Clare
Benson (Drummond Island, MI), Jonathan Blaustein (Taos, NM), Aaron Blum (Pittsburgh, PA), Daniel
Coburn (Lawrence, KS), Matthew Conboy (Pittsburgh, PA), Matthew Crowther (Chicago, IL), Jess Dugan
(Chicago, IL), Kirk Gittings (Albuquerque, NM), Alice Hargrave (Chicago, IL), Rita Koehler (South Bend,
IN), Karen Kuehn (Peralta, NM), Galina Kurlat (Houston, TX), Nate Larson & Marni Shindelman, Isa
Leshko (Salem, MA), Holly Lynton (Amherst, MA), Sara Macel (Brooklyn, NY), Rania Matar (Brookline,
MA), Sarah Moore (Missoula, MT), Bruce Myren (Cambridge, MA), David Ondrik (Portland, OR), Edward
Ranney (Santa Fe, NM), Kathleen Robbins (Columbia, SC), Bastienne Schmidt (Bridgehampton, NY), Nick
Shepard (Portland, OR), Charlie Simokaitis (Chicago, IL), Kurt Simonson (Long Beach, CA), Tabitha
Soren (San Francisco, CA), Cheryle St Onge (Durham, NH), Jim Stone (Albuquerque, NM), and Joel Peter
Witkin (Albuquerque, NM).
• Independent Spirits, Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC
2014
• The Kids are Alright: an exhibition about family and photography, Addison Gallery of American Art,
Andover MA, (traveling exhibition), Curated by Alison Ferris, Participating Artists: Janine Antoni, Nina
Berman, Todd Deutsch, Lucas Foglia, Tierney Gearon, David Hilliard, Justine Kurland, Ryan McGinley,
Andrea Modica, Catherine Opie, Justine Reyes, Kathleen Robbins, Betsy Schneider, and Chris Verene
(September 2013 – January 2014)
• Photographers from the Permanent Collection, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans LA,
Curated by Richard McCabe, Participating Artists: Shelby Lee Adams, William Christenberry, George
Dureau, William Eggleston, Birney Imes, Roland L. Freeman, Marion Post Wolcott, Kathleen Robbins,
Alec Soth, Sally Mann, and others (December – March 2014)
• Somewhere in the South, Rebekah Jacob Gallery, Charleston SC, Participating Artists: William Eggleston,
William Christenberry, Jen Ervin, Walker Pickering, Kathleen Robbins, and Susan Worsham (March –
April 2014)
• Sense of Place: Picturing West Greenville, Clemson University Center for Visual Arts, Greenville SC,
Curated by David Bram, Participating Artists: Dawn Roe, Kathleen Robbins, Leon Alesi, and Dustin
Chambers (June – August 2014)
2013
• The Kids are Alright: an exhibition about family and photography, Weatherspoon Art Museum,
Greensboro NC
• Soar, Stoveworks, Atlanta GA (curated by Jennifer Schwartz. Participating artists: Randi Lynn Beach,
Tom Chambers, Jason Houston, Kat Kiernan, Clay Lipsky, Kerry Mansfield, Michael J. Marshall, Dorothy
O’Connor, Emma Powell, Kathleen Robbins, Heather Evans Smith, Gordon Stettinius, Marisol Villanueva
and Rebecca Norris Webb)
• Critical Mass Top 50 Exhibition, Jennifer Schwartz Gallery, Atlanta GA (curated by W.M. Hunt)
• Critical Mass Top 50 Exhibition, Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach FL (curated by W.M.
Hunt)
• Into the Light: Photographs from the Permanent Collection, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New
Orleans, LA (curated by Richard McCabe)
2012
• The Kids are Alright: an exhibition about family and photography, John Michael Kohler Arts Center,
Sheboygan, WI (curated by Allison Ferris. Participating artists: Janine Antoni, Nina Berman, Todd
Deutsch, Lucas Foglia, Tierney Gearon, David Hilliard, Justine Kurland, Ryan McGinley, Andrea Modica,
Catherine Opie, Justine Reyes, Kathleen Robbins, Betsy Schneider, and Chris Verene)
• New Southern Photography, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA (curated by Richard
McCabe. Participating artists: Birney Imes, Kathleen Robbins, Bruce West, S. Gayle Stevens, Andrew
Garn, Heidi Kirkpatrick, Alex Leme)
• Gravitational Pull, Lightbox, Astoria, OR (Curated by Jennifer Schwartz. Participating artists: Ben Huff,
Michael Itkoff, David Bram, and Kathleen Robbins)
• The Calm Before the Storm, The Light Factory, Charlotte, NC (Curated by Dennis Kiel. Paticipating artists:
Camille Seaman, Pipo Nguyen-duy, Eric, Tomberlin, & Kathleen Robbins)
2011
• Mississippi Photographs: 1860s to Present, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA (Curated
by Richard McCabe, Participating artists:, Maude Schuyler Clay, William Eggleston, Walker Evans,
William Ferris, Roland Freeman, Lewis Hine, Birney Imes, Jessica Ingram, William Henry Jackson, Jack
Kotz, Clarence John Laughlin, Danny Lyon, Milly Moorehead West, David Rae Morris, Tom Rankin,
Kathleen Robbins, Euphus Ruth, Jack Spencer, Mark Steinmetz, Gayle Stevens, Eudora Welty, Bruce
West, Marion Post Wolcott and Terry Wood.)
• Fraction Magazine: 3 Years in the Making, Rayko Gallery, San Francisco, CA. (Curated by David Bram.
Paricipating artists: Sam Portera, Norman Mauskopf,, Michael Itkoff, Ken Rosenthal, David Maisel, Phil
Toledano, Liz Kuball, David Taylor, Kathleen Robbins, Tabitha Soren, Kerry Mansfield, Susan Burnstine,
and Clay Lipsky).
• Outlands: Land Over Time, Jennifer Schwartz Gallery, Atlanta, GA (Curated by Jennifer Schwartz.
Participating artists: Holly Lynton, Jason Houston, Rachel Barret, Kathleen Robbins, Maude Schuyler
Clay, and Tom Rankin).
2010
• Palmetto Portraits, South Carolina State Museum, Columbia, SC
PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS
In Progress- Limited Edition Monograph: Robbins, Kathleen. Ginkgo. White Peach Press
Monograph: Robbins, Kathleen. Into the Flatland. Columbia, SC: USC Press, 2015.
Limited Edition Monograph: Robbins, Kathleen. Into the Flatland. New Orleans, LA: New Orleans Photo Alliance, 2012.
EXHIBITION CATALOGUES
Siegel, Jerry. At This Moment: Portraits of South Carolina Artists, Greenville County Museum of Art (Jerry Siegel partnered with curators at the museum to photograph a group of 75 South Carolina artists for this exhibition and publication for GCMA.) GCMA, 2025.
Sloan, Mark and Long, Mark. Southbound: Photographs of and about the New South (Text by Nikky Finney, Eleanor Heartney, William Ferris, John T Edge, Rick Bunch and Mark Long), Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, SC, 2018.
Bram, David (essays by Michele Penhall and James Elkins). Fraction of a Second. Radius Books, Fraction Magazine, 516 Arts and UNM Art Museum, 2015.
Bram, David. Sense of Place: Picturing West Greenville, SC. Clemson Center for Visual Art, Greenville, SC, 2014.
Ferris, Alison, and Ruth Kohler. The Kids Are All Right. Sheboygan: John Michael Kohler Arts Center, 2012.
Sloan, Mark, and Paul Matheny. Palmetto Portraits Project. Charleston, SC: Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, 2010.
SELECTED PRESS, COMMISSIONS, AND REPRODUCTIONS
Robbins, Kathleen. “Last Course.” Photographs featured in Gravy, no. 97 (Fall 2025). Southern Foodways Alliance.
Robbins, Kathleen. “Interview: Kathleen Robbins on her project ‘Ginkgo’ an exploration of the messiness of profound loss, motherhood, grief, landscape and family.” Too Tired Project, July 21, 2024 (2024). https://tootiredproject.com/features/interview-kathleen-robbins
Bloomberg Businessweek, photograph for “Eyedrop Emergency,” 2023.
Conroy, Tim. “Kathleen Robbins: Glory Through Her Lens” The Limelight: A Compendium of Contemporary Columbia Artists, Volume III, edited by Cynthia Boiter, Muddy Ford Press, 2022, pgs. 95- 102.
The New York Times, photographs for T Magazine online feature and Sunday Style section, 2018.
Borne, Eliza. “Interview: Kathleen Robbins on the landscape of the Delta,” oxfordamerican.org, September 19, 2014 (2014) 9/19/14 http://www.oxfordamerican.org/articles/2014/sep/19/interview- kathleen-robbins-landscape-delta/
Gregory Vanessa. “Photographic Memory: A New Exhibit Explores the Push and Pull of Leaving Home.” Garden and Gun, June / July, 2013.
NPR: The Picture Show, “In the Delta, King Cotton Dethroned?,” 2012.
Southern Spaces, review of Outlands: Land Over Time, 2011.
Places Journal / Design Observer, “Cotton Farmers: Kathleen Robbins & Mary Carol Miller,” 2011.
Work also featured by CNN, Flak Photo, Fraction Magazine, Conscientious, and Photo District News.
ILLUSTRATION & REPRODUCTION
Conroy, Tim. No Route Home (Edited by Ed Madden, Cover Image by Kathleen Robbins) Muddy Ford Press, SC, 2024.
Conroy, Tim. Theologies of Terrain (Edited by Ed Madden, Cover Image by Kathleen Robbins) Muddy Ford Press, SC, 2018.
Oxford American Magazine Mar, Alex. “Issue 86: Sky Burial” Oxford American, Fall 2014. http://www.oxfordamerican.org/articles/2014/sep/08/issue-86-sky-burial/
Oxford American Magazine Giraldi, William. Issue 84 / Oxford American, Spring 2014.
Photography: Eleventh Edition (textbook) London, Stone, & Upton. “Photography: Eleventh Edition” Pearson, 2013 § (image used on Pg. 174 to illustrate use of available light)
GRANTS AND AWARDS
Second Sight Award finalist, Medium Photography Festival, 2021.
JASPER Magazine, Columbia SC 2014, Visual Artist of the Year
Photography Award Finalist, Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters, 2014
PDN 30 AWARD, Finalist, Photo District News 2013
Critical Mass PHOTOLUCIDA Top 50, Portland, OR, 2012
PhotoNOLA Review Prize Winner, New Orleans Photo Alliance, 2011
Provost’s Award for The Creative and Performing Arts, Office of the Provost, University of South Carolina’s 2011-2013
Clarence John Laughlin Award, Honorable mention, Juror: George Slade, New Orleans Photo Alliance 2011
Critical Mass PHOTOLUCIDA, Top 200, Portland, OR, 2010
Prix de la Photographie Paris, PX3 Paris Photo Prize, Honorable Mention, 2008
LECTURES
2025 Visiting Artist, Duke University, Experimental MFA, Durham, NC
2025 Juror / Keynote, Montgomery Photo Festival, Montgomery, AL
2021 Artist’s Talk, Tyrvee Gallery, Missolonghi, Greece (Virtual)
2021 Artist’s Talk, Medium Photography Festival, Second Sight Awards Finalist Talk (Virtual)
2018 “Immogen Cunningham” Columbia Museum of Art
2015 Artist’s Talk / Book Signing, Into the Flatland, Fall Line Press, Atlanta, GA
2015 Panel Discussion / Book Signing, Into the Flatland, Turnrow Books, Greenwood, MS
2015 Artist’s Talk / Book Signing, Speaker at the Center: Into the Flatland, South Carolina Center for the Book, Columbia, SC
2014 Visiting Artist’s Lecture / Workshops, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE
2014 Artist Talk / Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charleston, SC
2014 Gallery Talk / Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charleston, SC
2014 Artist’s Talk / Patron Party / Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charleston, SC
2014 Panel Discussion: “Southern Photography” / Rebekah Jacob Gallery, Charleston, SC
2014 Visiting Artist Lecture / Workshops / University of Central Arkansas, Conway, AR
2013 Visiting Artist Lecture, Corcoran College of Art, Washington DC
2011 Artist Salon Series: Kathleen Robbins, Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC
2011 Panel Discussion: Bill Cunningham New York, Nickolodeon Theatre, Columbia, SC
2011 Gallery Talk, Into the Flatland, Greenville Tech, Greenville, SC
2010 Gallery Talk, Into the Flatland, Dumois Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2010 Visiting Artist Talk, “The Art of Arranging Things” Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, LA
2010 Artist’s Talk, Palmetto Portraits, South Carolina Center for the Book, Columbia, SC
Invited Presentations at Professional Meetings
2010 Artist’s Talk / Into the Flatland, Society for Photographic Education Southeast Conference, Tallahassee, FL
Contributed Presentations
2015 Panel / “Shooting for the Stars” Society for Photographic Education National Conference, New Orleans, LA
2012 Panel / “Shooting for the Stars” Society for Photographic Education Southeast Regional Conference, Daytona Beach, FL
SELECTED ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
Director of Graduate Studies, University of South Carolina, SVAD, 2025-2026
Photography Program Coordinator, University of South Carolina, 2003-present.
Director and organizer, USC Photo Festival, held annually at the Columbia Museum of Art and Tapp’s Arts Center, 2009-2017.
Creator and director, Stormwater Collaborative Residency, School of Visual Art and Design, 2021-2025.
Faculty Grievance Committee, University of South Carolina, 2021-2024.
Stormwater liaison, School of Visual Art and Design, 2021-2025.
Board member, PhotoSC, 2023.
Portfolio reviewer and faculty mentor, Society for Photographic Education National Conference, 2013 and 2015.
Consultant, Columbia Museum of Art strategic plan, 2015.
Studio Art Area Coordinator, University of South Carolina, 2012-2014.
Faculty advisor, Photographic Society at USC, 2004-2014.
Photography workshop instructor, Baruch Institute, USC alumni and Board of Trustees programs, 2011-2015.
Instructional Technology Committee, School of Visual Art and Design, 2009-2015.
Juror, student photography exhibitions at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Columbia Museum of Art, 2013-2014.
Juror and consultant, Oxford American magazine’s “100 Under 100: The Visual South,” 2012.
COLLECTIONS
Greenville County Museum of Art, Telfair Musems, Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina State Museum, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Ackland Art Museum, Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art