Leah Oates
The images at the top of this page are all included in a solo exhibition at The Mary G Hardin Center for Cultural Arts in Gadsden, Alabama from April 3 to June 29, 2026. New images follow below, and at bottom are an artist's statement and CV.

New Works 2025
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
The Transitory Space series deals with urban and natural locations that are transforming due to the passage of time, altered natural conditions and a continual human imprint. In everyone and in everything there are daily changes and this series articulates fluctuation in the photographic image and captures movement through time and space. Transitory spaces have a messy human energy that is perpetually in the present yet continually altering. They are endlessly interesting, alive places where there is a great deal of beauty and fragility. They are temporary monuments to the ephemeral nature of existence.
Humans leave traces and artifacts of our consciousness everywhere in our environment. Contradictory realities can be found co-existing wherever we look. They’re in what we choose to think; what we choose to believe; and, how we choose to act. And, they can be found in what we choose to observe. When I look back on a moment it’s full of impressions and multiple exposures capture this. I make multiple exposures on specific frames in camera which allows me to display a more complete correlation of experiences that a single exposure just misses. Every moment captured on film is over as soon as the shutter clicks, recording the ephemeral. Yet, in reality, there is always a visual cacophony of experience. We are always living in many realities at once. Multiple exposures express the way we experience the world more accurately. Time is layered and not frozen into one single moment. Photography is directly connected to time as the camera shoots in fractions of a second. Time is always slipping and fracturing from the present, past and future. We are often living in all these levels at once. But when we’re not, we experience flow—or an absence of time. Multiple exposures are close to the experience of “flow.” When I look at a moment in time I “feel” more than can be recorded with a simple click of the shutter. I use multiple exposures on film to record a more accurate picture of how we can recall time transpiring.
CV
Education:
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B.F.A. Rhode Island School of Design, Rhode Island
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M.F.A. The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois
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Fulbright Fellowship @ Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland
Solo Shows in the NYC area:
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Susan Eley Fine Arts, NYC
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Arsenal Gallery @ Central Park, NYC
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Center for Book Arts, NYC
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Sarah Nightingale Gallery, Water Mill, NY
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Henry Street Settlement, NYC
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A Taste of Art Gallery, NYC
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A4L Gallery, NYC
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AIR Gallery, NYC
Solo Shows Nationally and Internationally:
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Black Cat Artspace, Toronto
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Real Art Ways, Connecticut
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Tomasulo Gallery @ Union College, New Jersey
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Sol Mednick Gallery @ The University of the Arts, Philadelphia
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Woman Made Gallery, Chicago
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Artemisia Gallery, Chicago
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Anchor Graphics, Illinois
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Galleria Joella, Finland
Groups shows in the NYC Area:
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Open Source Gallery, Brooklyn
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Edward Hopper House, Nyack, NY
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Associated Gallery, Brooklyn
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Wave Hill, The Bronx
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Flux Factory, Queens
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Elizabeth Heskin Contemporary, NYC
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Pierogi Gallery, Brooklyn
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Rush Art Gallery, NYC
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The Fisher Art Gallery at Bard College
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Denise Bibro Gallery, NYC
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Momenta Art, Brooklyn
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Nurture Art, Brooklyn
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Metaphor Contemporary Art, Brooklyn
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440 Gallery, Brooklyn
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Chashama, NYC
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Islip Art Museum, Islip, NY
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WAH Center, Brooklyn
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Westbeth Gallery, NYC
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International Print Center, NYC
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PS122, NYC
Group Shows Nationally and Internationally:
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Gallery 1313, Toronto
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Gladstone Hotel, Toronto
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John. Aird Gallery, Toronto
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Propeller Gallery, Toronto
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Connections Gallery, Toronto
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Artscape Wychwood Barns Community Gallery, Toronto
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Arta Gallery, Toronto
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The Papermill Gallery, Toronto
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Gallery Aferro, New Jersey
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City Without Walls, New Jersey
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Sohn FIne Art Gallery, Massachusetts
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Gallery 2014, Florida
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Diane Kidd Gallery @ Tiffin University, Ohio
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Kiernan Gallery, Oregon
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23 Sandy Gallery, Oregon
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Bob Rauschenberg Gallery, Florida
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Bridgeport Art Center, Chicago
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Susan Hensel Gallery, Minnesota
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Worcester State College Art Gallery, Massachusetts
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Delaware Center for Contemporary Art, Delaware
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C. Emerson Fine Art, Florida
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Gwen Frostic Gallery, Michigan
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Mad Art Space, Missouri
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One Eye Gallery, Scotland
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Wexford Art Centre, Ireland
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Temporary Services @ Harold Washington Library, Illinois
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Artemisia Gallery, Illinois
Museum Group Shows Nationally and Internationally:
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Housatonic Museum, Connecticut
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Tucson Museum of Art, Arizona
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RISD Art Museum, Rhode Island
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Turku City Art Museum, Finland
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The King St. Stephen Museum, Szekesfehervar, Hungary
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Florida State University Museum, Florida
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Rockford Art Museum, Illinois
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Royal Scottish Academy, Scotland
Arts Fairs in NYC and Nationally:
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Scope Art Fair NYC 2011, 2010, 2009
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Aqua Art Fair Miami 2010
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Affordable Art Fair NYC 2010
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Pool Art Fair Miami and NYC, 2008, 2009
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Bridge Art Fair Miami, 2008, 2009
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Photo NY 2006
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Boomerang Art Fair Miami 2006
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AAF Contemporary Art Fair NYC 2005 & 2004
Museum and Public Artists' Book Collections:
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MoMA, New York
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Harvard University Library, Massachusetts
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Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan
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Wesleyan University, Connecticut
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Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Washington, DC
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Centre des Livres d’Artistes, France
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Boekie Woekie, The Netherlands
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Francis Clark Art Institute, Massachusetts
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Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles
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The Tate Museum, England
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The Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York
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The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
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The Victoria and Albert, England
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The New York Public Library, New York
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Dartmouth College, Maine
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Rhode Island School of Design, Rhode Island
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The British Library, England
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Chelsea College of Art and Design, England
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Cleveland Institute of Art, Ohio
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Carnegie-Mellon University, Pennsylvania
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U.C.L.A. Art Library, California
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Yale University, Connecticut
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National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC
Local and National Press:
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Artvoices Magazine
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The Hand Magazine
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Focus Photography Magazine
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Vasa Journal on Images and Culture
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New Jersey Star Ledger
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Tribeca Tribune
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City Week NYC
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Phaidon Club
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New Jersey Westfield Leader
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NY Arts Magazine
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Edge Boston
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Front Magazine, Canada
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Diffusion Magazine
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Daily Constitutional
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Studio Views
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Drain Online Magazine
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Animal Online
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Riverdale Press
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Umbrella Magazine
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Chicago Reader
Awards:
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Irreversible Magazine, Selected Photographer, Show and Publication, Miami, Florida
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Independent Project Grant, Artist Space, NYC
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Community Art Assistant Grants, 1998 & 1999, Department of Cultural Affairs, Chicago, Illinois
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Trustee Scholarship, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois
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Fulbright Fellowship, Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland
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Andrew Grant Bequest, Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland
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Rhode Island School of Design, Independent Study Program, Rome, Italy
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Full Tuition Scholarship for Undergraduate Study at Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island
Residencies:
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NY Arts China Residency, Invited Residency, Beijing, China
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Ragdale Foundation Lake Forest, Illinois, Fellowship Award
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Pouch Cove Foundation, Pouch Cove, Newfoundland, Canada
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Taipei International Artists Village, Taipei, Taiwan, Fellowship Award
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Caldera Foundation, Sisters, Oregon, Fellowship Award
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Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont, Fellowship Award