Eli Craven (1979) is an Indiana-based artist and adjunct professor of photography at Purdue University. Craven works conceptually with photographic images, re-evaluating the physical and psychological potential of photography through sculptural and digital interventions. His works exist somewhere between image and object, seeking to connect representation with reality. The artist’s interest lies in the ubiquitous, ordinary images of family portraits and instructional guides which, when closely observed, allude to a range of human fears and emotions. His research begins with the acts of looking and collecting, and then moves toward a critical investigation of the image and its relationship to sexuality, desire, and death.

Craven exhibits nationally and internationally, most recently at KlompChing Gallery in Brooklyn, New York, the 31st South Bend Museum of Art Biennial, and Feinkunst Krüger Gallery in Hamburg. His work has also been widely published in Philosophie Magazine, The Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, Gestalten Publishing Berlin, Penguin Random House Barcelona, and the Paris Opera, among others.