Denis Defibaugh

Denis Defibaugh is a professor emeritus of photography at Rochester Institute of Technology, in Rochester, New York, USA.

As evidenced by his participation in over 30 solo exhibitions in galleries, museums, and cultural centers, Denis is a photographer that continues to explore the potential of photography and story telling of diverse cultures. His recent work Afterlifes of Natural History was exhibited in Arles, France during Fotofest and featured in Smithsonian.com. The work Family Ties do not Die, The Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, Mexico has produced three exhibitions in Texas and numerous shows in San Francisco, Miami, Rochester, Buffalo, Colorado and Montana. These photographs were published by TCU Press in his first book, The Day of the Dead. His documentary and travel photographs earned a Fulbright-Hays Travel/Study Grant to Mexico, and most recently a prestigious National Science Foundation award for research and to produce the Rockwell Kent and Early 1930’s Greenland, A Comparative View of Environmental, Social and Cultural Change in Contemporary Greenland. 

Recent exhibitions and publications have highlighted Defibaugh’s National Science Foundation award which documents Native culture of Greenland. This project, North by Nuuk, Greenland after Rockwell Kent, is now traveling in the USA.

Beyond his teaching career at RIT, and lecturing internationally, he has presented workshops for Yellowstone National Park, Zion National Park, Florida A&M University, SPEOS: Paris, RIT’s T&E Photography Workshops, and personally coordinated workshops in Cuba; Brazil, Oaxaca, Mexico; Surabaya, Indonesia; Seoul, Korea, and Greenland. 

Defibaugh has been widely published and has produced advertising and editorial images for such clients as UNICEF, National Park Service, Coca-Cola, Polaroid, Delta Airlines, Eastman Kodak, and American Express.

email: dldpph@rit.edu

web: www.denisdefibaughgreenland.com