Eric Dusenbery (B.A. Cinema & Photography, Southern Illinois University)
is a documentary photographer, writer, and educator whose work explores the intersections of place, storytelling, and human connection. Through long-term projects and community-engaged exhibitions, his work honors the beauty and complexity of everyday lives, encouraging viewers to slow down, look closely, and rediscover the world with curiosity and compassion. His practice integrates rigorous field research, long-term community engagement, and visual storytelling to preserve and interpret regional histories for public audiences. Through exhibitions, publications, and educational programming, his projects advance public understanding of place, identity, and shared cultural heritage.
He is the recipient of multiple grants, including two awards from the Florida Humanities Council. Croaker Sacks and Catfish Stew examined the cooking traditions, foodways, and family rituals that shaped rural Florida communities during the Depression era. From Classroom to Community documented the people, stories, and events that made Seville, Florida—and its historic public school—a vital part of the state’s cultural heritage.
Dusenbery has also been awarded grants and sponsorships from Florida Dairy Farmers, Duke Energy, Volusia County, and York Cultural Alliance to produce public-facing documentary projects that preserve cultural knowledge, strengthen community identity, and foster intergenerational learning. These projects were developed in collaboration with local partners and presented through museum exhibitions, public programs, and accessible interpretive materials.
His work has been presented in numerous solo exhibitions, including Sidetracked: Travels Across the Undiscovered South (Jacksonville State University), At the Crossroads (Museum of Florida History), Croaker Sacks and Catfish Stew (Florida Agricultural Museum), Back Roads to Back Home: Finding the Voices of Rural Florida (Sarasota Art Center), and Crenshaw Crossroads (John D. Harrison Cultural Center).
He has lectured and led workshops for a wide range of civic and professional organizations, galleries, libraries, schools, nonprofits, and trade associations.
With nearly forty years of experience, Dusenbery often works in the tradition of large-format documentary photography, informed by the legacy of the Farm Security Administration photographers. His historically grounded approach was exemplified in Through the Lens of Our Forebears, a project revisiting locations photographed by Dorothea Lange in 1930s Georgia. By photographing contemporary residents in the same places using a 4×5 large-format camera, the project created a visual dialogue across generations and was featured in the journal Hidden Compass.
