The College of

Arts and Sciences

 

Shelby Roberts is a photographer and educator currently based in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where she serves as the Visiting Assistant Professor of Photography in the Department of Art, Graphic Design and Art History at Oklahoma State University. She is also a 2025 OSU Center for the Humanities Fellow. Roberts recently relocated from Los Alamos, New Mexico, where her photographic practice was deeply informed by the region’s history, landscapes, and social imaginaries.

Prior to her current appointment, Roberts was a full-time lecturer in the Department of Film & Digital Media at Northern New Mexico College in Española, NM, where she was voted 2024 Adjunct Faculty of the Year. She is known for integrating critical discussion, perceptual inquiry, and visual experimentation in the classroom.

Roberts holds a Master of Fine Arts in Photography from the University of New Mexico (2022), where she was a School of Fine Arts Ambassador and a SITE Santa Fe Scholar. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from the School of Art at California State University, Long Beach in 2017.

Her work is rooted in walking, recording, and informal interviews. She explores themes related to land use, urban and rural planning, visual perception, speculative belief systems, and the politics of place.

Roberts’ photography and research have been exhibited regionally and internationally. Before pursuing her MFA, she worked in a range of educational and service roles, including as a sushi chef, barista, literacy tutor, assistant to the director of a visual arts nonprofit, and educator for adults with developmental disabilities. These experiences continue to inform her collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to teaching and making.