Pratt Institute

Education

BA from Wheaton College
MFA from the University of Chicago

Biography

Deborah Bright is a photographer, writer and educator. Prior to her appointment as Chair of Fine Art at Pratt, she held a joint appointment as Professor of Photography and History of Art/Visual Culture at the Rhode Island School of Design where she served as Dean of Fine Arts from 2009-2011. Her photographic projects have been exhibited internationally, including at the Victoria and Albert Museum; the Museet for Fotokunst, Copenhagen; Nederlands Foto Instituut, Rotterdam; Museum Folkwang, Essen; Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa; Cambridge Darkroom; Vancouver Art Gallery. Her photographs are included in the collections of the Whitney Museum; National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian; Addison Gallery of American Art; Fogg Art Museum; Boston Athenaeum; Rose Art Museum; University Art Museum at Binghamton University; California Museum of Photography and the RISD Museum of Art. She has received numerous grants and awards for her photography and critical writing. Bright edited The Passionate Camera: photography and bodies of desire, a groundbreaking collection of images and writings on photography and queer politics, and in 2010, was recognized as Honored Educator of the Year by the Society for Photographic Education.