Sean Perry
Practice
I am an Austin-based photographer creating atmospheric portraits of the built environment across Texas, New York, and Japan. I photograph places that hold time.
Portfolio and publications: seanperry.com
Instagram: @sean.perry
Program & Leadership
Working with our faculty and staff, I lead a department that builds durable creative lives: grounded in ethics, community, and financial agency; open to AI as a collaborative ally; shaped by entrepreneurial thinking.
We reframed the program as the Department of Photography + Visual Media and built curriculum around contemporary roles, from storytelling to cultural-heritage imaging.
We established ACCMe Studio + Labs so students work with real clients from day one — including headshots and portraits, culinary, commercial products, and event coverage. The studio expanded into cultural heritage digitization and exhibition printing, training students on DT/Phase One systems and large-format fine prints. It's now the only program of its kind at a community college in the nation. Graduates launch their own businesses, work at the city's top printing studios and labs, and hold positions at institutions including the Hoover Institution at Stanford and The Morgan Library & Museum.
In collaboration with Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), we created a 2+2 transfer pathway. The first students began studies in Rochester, New York, in the Fall of 2025.
We launched an artist residency and The Atrium Gallery, hosting exhibitions, portfolio reviews, and visiting artists. We host PhotobookATX, the public conversation series I co-founded with Bryan Schutmaat, welcoming the greater photography and creative community to Highland to discuss and celebrate photobooks.
Teaching Experience
Austin Community College · Professor and Department Chair, Photography + Visual Media (2018–present); Professor (2016–2018); Adjunct Faculty (2001–2016)
School of Visual Arts, New York · Adjunct Faculty (2006–2014)
Courses include: Portfolio Development · Photographic Lab Techniques · Directed Studies Years I & II · Intro to Visual Literacy
Conversations & Public Programs
Co-founder & co-host · Photobook Austin (with Bryan Schutmaat) · selected conversations with artists and publishers Danny Lyon · Mary Virginia Swanson · Rahim Fortune · Matthew Genitempo · Sarah Wilson, among others
Founder · The Picture Review · In-conversation and exhibition series (editions with Elizabeth Avedon · Elinor Carucci · Matt Mahurin · Keith Carter · Alyssa Coppelman · Nicholas Vreeland, among others)
i3 Masters Presentation, MPS Digital Photography, School of Visual Arts, New York City
Printmaking & Artist Books, Fashion Institute of Technology
Selected Books
Limited Edition Books
Fairgrounds: Box Set (2025) Limited edition of 26 lettered copies A–Z + 4 AP. Custom fabrication by Kaoru Perry, Cloverleaf Studio.
Fairgrounds (2008) Cloverleaf Press.
Transitory (2006) Cloverleaf Press.
Featured Work
Fossils of Light + Time by Elizabeth Avedon, Detroit Center for Contemporary Photography. cover and interior photograph
Series of Dreams by Russell Joslin, Skeleton Key Press
Confluences: Twenty Years of Photographs, People, Stories, Stephen L. Clark Gallery
Case Studies
Publish Your Photography Book, 2nd Edition (2014) Himes/Swanson, Princeton Architectural Press
Publish Your Photography Book (2011) Himes/Swanson, Princeton Architectural Press
Essays
Teaching Photography: Tools for the Imaging Educator, Rand/Zakia, Focal Press
Professional Publications
Selected Editorial Commissions
New York Times Magazine · Midtown's Irish Elite (2012)
New York Magazine · Bruce Ratner's Barclays Center (2012)
New York Magazine · The Mysteries of the Suicide Tourist (2008)
New York Magazine · Newtown Creek Treatment Plant (2007)
Billboard · Barclays Center Special Feature (2012)
Books
From the Heart: The Photographs of Brian Lanker, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. (remastering for archive, exhibition & publication)
Selected Photography Journals
American Photography Annual · AP41 (2025), AP39 (2023), AP38 (2022), AP37 (2021), AP23 (2006)
Shots Magazine · Issues 136 (2017, featured), 133 (2016, cover), 120 (2013), 90 (2005), 85 (2004)
Don't Take Pictures Journal · Featured Artist (2015)
LensCulture Magazine · Architecture Feature (2014)
Photo District News · On Bookmaking, Contributing Artist (2012)
Graphis Photo Annual (2006)
Selected Exhibitions
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2008 · Fairgrounds, Stephen L. Clark Gallery, Austin, Texas
2007 · The Built Environment, Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, Texas
2006 · The Abstract, The Concrete, The Electrical, Stephen L. Clark Gallery, Austin, Texas
2005 · Transitory, D. Berman Gallery, Austin, Texas (two-person exhibition with George Krause)
2003 · work 2003, Flatbed Press, Austin, Texas
Selected Group Exhibitions
2026 · Wellspring: New Acquisitions, The Wittliff Collections, Texas State University
2025 · AMoA Biennial, Amarillo Museum of Art, Texas
2025 · 15th Annual Photobook Exhibition, Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, Massachusetts
2025 · Photo Review Best of Show, curated by Peter Fetterman, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia
2024 · 40, South x Southeast Gallery, Georgia
2023 · UNBOUND12!, Candela Books + Gallery, Richmond, Virginia
2023 · Photo Review Best of Show, curated by Dr. Deborah Willis, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia
2022 · The Curated Fridge, 30th Show, curated by Aline Smithson
2022 · Time, curated by Michael Kirchoff, Analog Forever Magazine
2017 · INFOCUS, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
2013 · Twenty Years, Stephen L. Clark Gallery, Austin, Texas
2006–2011 · The Photography Show presented by AIPAD, The Park Avenue Armory, New York City
2009 · Hasselblad Masters Exhibition, Hong Kong · New York · Copenhagen · London
2009 · Nueva Luz / New Light: New Acquisitions, The Wittliff Collections, Texas State University
2007 · Transformations: Photography and Imaging @ 25, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University
Additional exhibitions at McNeese State University, Cambridge Art Association, Photographic Center Northwest, Chautauqua Institution, Stephen F. Austin State University, Museum of Contemporary Art Fort Collins, San Diego Arts Institute, William Rainey Harper College, Baker Arts Center, Concordia University
Selected Recognition
Awards & Honors
American Photography Archive · Selections in AP42 (2026), AP41 (2025), AP39 (2023), AP38 (2022), AP37 (2021), AP23 (2006)
Critical Mass, Photolucida · Finalist, 2022
Hasselblad Masters Award · Finalist, 2009
Santa Fe Prize for Photography · Finalist, 2007
Review Santa Fe · Selected participant, 2006, 2007
PDN 30 · Nominee, 2006, 2011
Graphis Photo Annual · Featured, 2006
Teaching Excellence Award, Austin Community College (2014)
John & Suanne Roueche Excellence Award (2014)
Nominations
2017, 2013 · Teaching Excellence Award, Austin Community College
2014, 2012 · Excellence in Teaching Award, Center for Photography, Santa Fe
2011, 2007 · PDN 30, Photo District News
2008 · Baum Award for Photography, SF Camerawork
Selected Collections
Museum Collections
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth
Seattle Art Museum
The Menil Collection
Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, Massachusetts
University and Institutional Collections
Yale University · Special Collections
Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin
The Wittliff Collections, Texas State University
Charles W. Moore Center for The Study of Place, University of Texas at Austin
Lamar Dodd Art Center, LaGrange College
Private Collections
Manfred Heiting Collection
Alan Siegel Collection, New York
Milton Simpson Art Collection
Corporate Collections
Austonian Art Collection
Four Seasons Art Collection
Frost Bank Collection of Fine Artworks
Published: August 29, 2026