Bio: For more than two decades Stephen Wilkes has been widely recognized for his fine art and commercial photography. With numerous awards and honors, as well as five major exhibitions in the last five years Wilkes has left an impression on the world of photography. Over the years, Wilkes' photographs can be found in magazines such as Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated, Time, Life Magazine, and The New York Times Magazine. His work on Ellis Island and his Burnt Object series were also featured in The New York Times Magazine as an artist showcase.  He has been praised numerous times by the photographic and design industry with several awards including the Alfred Eisenstaedt Award for Magazine Photography, Photographer of the Year in Adweek Magazine, as well as honors in Graphis Magazine and Communication Arts.

In 1999 Wilkes completed a personal project photographing the south side of Ellis Island: the ruined landscape of the infectious desease and phychiatric hospital wings, where children and adults alike were detained before they could enter America. Through his photographs and video work, Wilkes has inspired and helped secure $6 million in funding towards the restoration for the south side of the island. Beyond his national contribution, Wilkes' photographs on the south side also became an artistic one. The work was shown in April of 2001 in a one-person exhibition at The Soho Triad Fine Arts Gallery in New York. The photographs then traveled to Los Angeles for an exhibition at the Apex Fine Arts Gallery in January of 2003 and to the Monroe Gallery of Photography in Santa Fe in October of 2004 and October 2006. The photographs were exhibited in a solo exhibiton in January 2008 at The Griffin Museum of Photography and The Chicago Cultural Arts Center in July 2008. The James A. Michener Art Museum will exhibit the work in June 2010 and The Skirball Cultural Center in October 2010.