Professor Miller brings to her photographic work and her teaching a broad background in research-driven creative work and a love of interdisciplinary practice. She is also committed to animal welfare issues, especially those affecting thoroughbred ex-racehorses, of which she owns four.
A long-standing interest in the photographic social document and in ephemeral remnants of American culture underlies Professor Miller's work. From 1995-2004, she completed a series of photographs taken in state capitols titled: "Statesmen - Pictures from the Fifty State Capitols", where she photographed and re-interpreted the portraits of former governors from each of the fifty states, creating a personal Hall of Governors, a collection of salesmen, matinee idols and fools, as well as respected ordinary men. Her more recent works include the audio/video installation "Lay Down Your Bandoliers", and two in-progress short documentary film projects.
M.A., American Civilization, University of Texas at Austin, practice and history of photography, 1983
B.G.S., University of Missouri, Columbia, photography and art history, 1978
Creative Expression Statement
Select completed and current creative projects:
- Mosaic Racing (2013-ongoing) short documentary film about responsible horse racing
- Fairaway Farm (2014 - ongoing) still photographs of horses and the places they inhabit
- to sleep: perchance to dream (2014) audio/video work
- Argentan (2013) - photographs of the belongings of George Miller, killed in Argentan, France in 1944
- Lay Down Your Bandoleers (2011) audio/video work
- Statesmen: Pictures from the Fifty State Capitols (1996-2005) still photographs
Publications
At Work. Corpus Christi 1934 University of New Mexico Press, 1987
Original research on the history of itinerant photography.
A Kind of History. Millerton new York 1971-2001 Photographs by Mark Goodman. Markerbooks, 1999
Editor and Designer; selected to Top Ten Photography Books of 1999, Village Voice.
Articles
A Brief Chat with Helen Levitt and a Few Other Things. photoeye.com magazine, 2008
Published Sept. 17, 2008, photoeye.com magazine: "New York-based photographer Helen Levitt reached her 95th birthday this past August and to help celebrate we are honored to publish writer/photographer Sybil Miller's personal reflections on Levitt’s life work, followed by a rare interview. In part two, Miller provides her insight and analysis of the various editions of Levitt's landmark book A Way of Seeing and her beautiful new monograph published by powerHouse Books.
Facing the Capitol (A Conversation Takes Place, Everything Changes) Camera Arts, 2005
Interview by Bill Stott about Sybil Miller's Statesmen project. "Sybil Miller’s “Statesmen: Pictures from the Fifty State Capitols,” is a collection of reinterpreted portraits of governors, one from each state. In an email exchange Miller discusses the project with Bill Stott, her former American Studies professor at University of Texas at Austin."