Jennifer Colten

Jennifer Colten is a Senior Lecturer and Area Coordinator for Photography at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, Washington University in St. Louis. She specializes in landscape photography examining cultural geographies, environmental implications of land use, and social inequities. Her work often collaborates with communities and public spaces to document histories and ecological transformations.

Her research focuses on the American Bottom region along the Mississippi River, exploring Indigenous heritage, industrial legacies, and racial disparities. Recent projects include the Mellon Foundation-funded Mississippi River Open School for Kinship and Social Exchange, which addresses race, geography, and cultural knowledge through creative partnerships.

Colten’s awards include a 2024 Mellon Foundation Humanities Grant and a 2017 Ferguson Seed Grant for documenting Washington Park Cemetery, a historic African American burial site. Her work is in collections like the Denver Art Museum and Museum für Fotografie (Germany).

She teaches in the BFA and BA Studio Art programs, emphasizing environmental and cultural resilience in her pedagogy. Ongoing projects include Wasteland Ecology (exploring toxic industrial sites) and Significant & Insignificant Mounds (documenting Indigenous archaeology).