AQUA4: (di)VISIONS of water in Washington
Courtney L. Sexton (Poet/Essayist)
Courtney is a native of New Jersey where she grew up between the Delaware River and the sandy Pine Barrens. She received her M.F.A. from Sarah Lawrence College in New York. Courtney can never be far from the coastline or riverbank, and is always following water somewhere. Courtney writes about places and human relationships to them, constantly exploring the intersections of nature and culture, art and science. She is the co-founder of the D.C.-based literary reading series and writing community, The Inner Loop, and is an adjunct professor of English at Northern Virginia and Howard Community Colleges. She is a widely-published writer and producer and has new work forthcoming in The Fourth River journal.
Michael O. Snyder (Photographer/Videographer)
Mike is a documentary photographer, filmmaker and social innovator whose work focuses on the intersections of social justice and environmental sustainability. He has worked across the world, from Japan, Scotland, Uganda, New Zealand, Hawai'i and Ecuador and is currently based in Washington, D.C. where he is the founder and director of Inderdependent Pictures.
Mike holds an MSc in Environmental Sustainability, is an adjunct professor of environmental-sociology, a Rotary Scholar and public speaker. Driven by a spirit of adventure, he has hiked the Appalachian and John Muir Trails, cycled across Europe and ridden trains from China to Portugal. His work has been featured in galleries, magazines, books, television and at film festivals around the world and he is the winner of several awards.
Curators:
Photographers:
Writers/Poets:
Bryan Richard Martin
Bryan Richard Martin is an internationally published visual artist, mathematician and musician. He uses the lens to create collections that celebrate beauty in the mundane performance of life. Martin's still works explore processes in avant-garde portraiture and street photography. Bryan currently works with AmeriCorps VISTA Program to empower youth communities in Washington, DC.
Bárbara Oliveira
Barbara started her career in Lisbon, Portugal, where she was involved in the fashion industry; working for clothing brands, magazines and events. She was the Casting Director at QuickCasting, and has worked as a production assistant on short films and TV ads. In 2014, Barbara started her own company, 'Barbara O Photography', that specializes in Portrait, Wedding, Lifestyle & Fine Art Photography.
Krista Schlyer
Krista Schlyer is a conservation photographer and writer living in the Washington, D.C. area. She is a senior fellow in the International League of Conservation Photographers, whose work has been published by BBC, The Nature Conservancy, High Country News, The National Geographic Society and Audubon. Schlyer is the author of three books including “Continental Divide: Wildlife, People and the Border Wall,” winner of the 2013 National Outdoor Book Award. She is also the 2014 recipient of the Sierra Club’s Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography and the 2015 Vision Award, from the North American Nature Photographers Association.
Rachel Carstens
Rachel Carstens is a poet working in higher education in Washington, D.C. A recent graduate of the University of Maryland M.F.A., she volunteers with the Poetry and Literature Center at the Library of Congress and Split this Rock. Her work has appeared in the Atlas Review.
Sheila McMullin
Sheila McMullin is a poet and feminist working in Washington, D.C. Assistant Editor for VIDA: Women in Literary Arts, she writes the column “Spotlight On!” celebrating literary magazines that publish a diverse representation of writers. She is Managing Editor and Poetry Editor for ROAR Magazine, as well as Communications and Outreach Coordinator for District Lit. She works as an after-school creative writing and college prep instructor and volunteers at her local animal rescue. She holds her M.F.A. from George Mason University. Find her, along with her publications and awards, online at the feminist and resource website, MoonSpitPoetry.com.
Barrett Warner
Barrett Warner's poetry has appeared in print, on line, and in newspapers since 1982. Recently, he is the author of a chapbook, My Friend Ken Harvey (Publishing Genius, 2014) as well as the forthcoming collection, Why Is It So Hard to Kill You? (Jane's Boy, 2015). New work appears in Consequence, Chiron Review, Salamander, and Tishman Review.
Artist's Statement:
Roads and tracks mean everything to a motion poet, but roads are only what rivers once were—runs to quench a thirsty farm, navigable creeks of border sharing, rivers of big ecstatic movement. Anything so universal makes it easy to find subtleties, even political ones. Writing these poems, and using natural water for the compelling lyric, I felt freer to write my loner self into an imagistic dream of community wishes.