BREAKING BARRIERS: GATHERING LIGHT

The USF Contemporary Art Museum is honored to present Breaking Barriers: Gathering Light, a curated selection of photographs created through the 2025 Breaking Barriers workshops. These intensive online photography workshops—offered free of charge to veterans and their families in the USF community, Tampa Bay, and beyond—were led by artist and educator Kristen Roles, with assistance from US Air Force veteran Derek Hopkins.

Gathering Light reflects the many ways participants encountered, shaped, and gathered light, revealing it as both a physical phenomenon and a metaphor for perception, resilience, and connection. Through these images, Gathering Light honors the creative labor of all participants and invites visitors to slow down, look closely, and consider how the simple act of seeing and sharing what we see can help us better understand ourselves and one another.

Exhibiting artists include: Christopher Algarin, Manfredo Bobadilla, David Bryant, Luis E. Carrasco Jr., Patricia A. Colbert, Diana Colon, Gail Cross, Bernadette Dunn, Michael E. Dunson Jr., Sha’na Folks, Evan Fountain, Paul Hall, Editha Perez Heberlein, Roger C. Heberlein, Valerie Larson, John Leduc, Kevin Guy Lipton, Mikko Maki, Tanya O’Brien, Kenya Selmon, Chris Smith, Kimberlee Nicole Smith, RJ Smith, Sharon Stentz, Roger St Julian, Monika Sutton, RaeAnne Swanson, Viana Taveres Fischer, Melisa Vélez, and Michael D. Webb.

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