Lecturer Alexander Benjamin Craghead

I am a curator, photographer, essayist, and historian who researches and writes about the intersection of technology, representation, and landscape. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest with a strong interest in the visual arts influenced by a creative family and what I jokingly refer to as "too much exposure to PBS."

Presently, I am working on a book about conceptualizations of decay in the American urban environment, with a specific focus on the intersection of the idea of "blight" and the forces of settler colonialism. I am also engaged in a multi-decade photo-observatory project, called the Portland Switching District Project, that examines the nature of deindustrialization, gentrification, and urban change in the city of Portland, Oregon.

My curatorial work included my role as managing curator for After Promontory: 150 Years of Transcontinental Railroading (travelling, 2019-Present) and consulting writer on South Portland and the Long Shadow of Urban Renewal (Architectural Heritage Center, 2020-2021).

My writing, meanwhile, has appeared in several regional and national publications, notably Boom: A Journal of California, California History, Railroad Heritage, and The Smart Set. Additionally, I co-edited Continuity & Change: The Lure of North American Railroads, (Center for Railroad Photography & Art, 2022), co-edited and contributed to The Railroad and the Art of Place: An Anthology (Center for Railroad Photography & Art, 2021), and authored The Railway Palaces of Portland, Oregon: The Architectural Legacy of Henry Villard (The History Press, 2016).