Alanna Styer (she/they) is an interdisciplinary documentary artist, educator and activist, who engages with omitted histories and cultural change. Their artwork focuses on the understandings of community, storytelling, and trauma, as they relate to land and place. Their work has been exhibited across the United States and is held in The Archives of Documentary Art at Duke University.

As an educator and curriculum coordinator they focus on democratizing education through accessible learning resources and promoting omitted histories through a diversity of sources. Styer was the CENTER 2023 CallananExcellence in Teaching Award Recipient.

Styer earned their MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts and a Certificate in College Teaching from Duke University. They also hold a BFA in Photography from Watkins College of Art Design & Film.

Selected Press and Publications

“Isolation Polaroids” Casserole Series

“Jaulas // Cages: Alanna Styer: A Praire, Not a Promise” Lenscratch by Erick Guzman

“Alanna Styer MFA EDA ‘20: ‘A Prairie, Not A Promise” by Katy Clune

“Photographer’s Pilgrimage Offers Audiences a New Relationship to Imagery of Police Killings” Prison Photography by Pete Brooks

“Nashville Artist Hits the Road to Photograph Where People of Color Have Been Killed by Police” Nashville Public Radio by Erica Ciccarone

“Dreaming on Death Row.” Hyperallergic by Alicia Eler