– Stephen is colorblind; his favorite colors are blue and purple because he cannot tell the difference –
Stephen Milner (b.1991) is an artist who spends his time between Eugene, Oregon and Savannah, GA.
He received his BFA in photography from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2013 and is currently a Graduate Teaching Fellow in the MFA Studio Art program at the University of Oregon.
His work has been featured in the Oxford American, PDN Magazine, Lenscratch, Paper Journal, The Photographic Dictionary, Humble Arts Foundation, TIME Lightbox, Aint-Bad Magazine, Juxtapoz Magazine, thisispaper and iGNANT.
Recently Stephen was named as Aline Smithson’s (Lenscratch) “Five Favorites: Photographers to Watch”, listed as a 2016 Flash Forward winner for the Magenta Foundation and was granted the 2016 SPE Student Award in Image Innovation.
About ‘Ogeechee ‘:
The Ogeechee River is a 294-mile long black-water river that stretches from Crawfordville, GA, southeast into the Ossabaw Sound on the Atlantic coast.
The river is a 5,540 square-mile basin and along it, hundreds of thousands of Georgians live and work, making it among the most important natural resources in the state.
In May 2011, the largest fish kill in Georgia’s history was recorded, leaving over 40,000 fish dead. King American Finishing, a textile processor in Screven County, was discovered to have been discharging a fire retardant into the river for six years without an environmental permit.
The thousands of dead fish were only found just below the King Finishing outfall pipe; no dead fish were found upstream from the plant.
The river community is one that is based on everyday reliance on the river, whether it’s for food, transportation or recreation. In January 2014, after a lengthy legal battle, the Ogeechee Riverkeeper prevailed over King American Finishing.
Shortly after the settlement, when the weather started to warm, residents began to return to the river for recreation. Though the future of the river and its faithful community seem bright, the lingering fear of pollution and potential health risks still looms.
