Program Description
"Women of BACKBONE is a long-term participatory photography project situated at the intersection of art, gender, culture, and scholarship. In two connected lectures, artist, researcher, and educator Bren Kleinfelder explores the project as both participatory art and research inquiry. The first lecture introduces the photographs and women’s voices that shaped the work across decades. The second examines Voices of Resilience, a mixed-methods study that grounded the project’s 2024 return, revealing how self-representation, agency, and meaning evolve over time. Together, the talks trace how art and scholarship can work in dialogue to deepen understanding and honor lived experience.
Note: The Women of BACKBONE series includes images of unclothed women, shown respectfully within an artistic and scholarly framework.
Bren Kleinfelder is an educator, researcher, writer, photographer, and artist whose work sits at the intersection of art, gender, culture, and scholarship. She holds a Doctorate in Educational Methodology, Policy & Leadership from the University of Oregon and spent nearly two decades in special education, where her focus on equity and arts-based learning shaped a commitment to voice and choice. She is the creator of Women of BACKBONE and Voices of Resilience, a mixed-methods study that grounded the project’s 2024 return. Bren is the author of Women of BACKBONE and the founder of Summer Street Media in Salem, Oregon."