Associate Professor
Photography
Amir Aghareb is a photographer, educator, and lifetime learner. His academic journey led him to acquire an MFA in Art with a specialization in Photography from Pennsylvania State University, after prior explorations in Architectural Engineering and Materials Engineering. Amir has exhibited his photos nationally and internationally and has received numerous awards. His fine art and commercial architectural photos have been widely published. He has been honored with photographic distinctions from international organizations, such as the Royal Photographic Society (England), the International Federation of Photographic Art (Belgium), the Global Photographic Union, and the Photographic Society of America. He is the Professor of Photography in the Department of Art and Design at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee. Amir enjoys taking carefully composed 2D conventional photographs as well as non-conventional work that pushes the established norms of the medium. In his recent work, Amir delves into the theme of physical spaces, engaging in an exploration of the striking similarities and intriguing disparities encountered during the process of relocation.
Take a Step Closer (detail)
2026
Digital photography collage
9 x 6 inches
Take a step closer frames the lived reality that when you set a meaningful goal for yourself, it inevitably comes with a multitude of unknown factors—mysteries that you may or may not be consciously aware of yet. Every true ambition begins in this quiet, unpredictable space, where the horizon is wide open but entirely hidden from view.
This chosen objective can easily feel vague and out of focus, like looking at a blurry image, which naturally makes it deeply intimidating to face. It is a form of visual static that often paralyzes us, because the human mind naturally struggles to map out a future it cannot clearly see or understand.
But the other side of this reality is that the only way to make your goal happen is to push past that hesitation and get moving on that road. No amount of passive contemplation or waiting for the perfect moment will resolve the picture or bring your destination any nearer. By choosing to take just one step closer, the heavy fog lifts, and the path ahead gradually becomes slightly more clear to you. It reminds us that clarity is never a gift given to us before we start, but rather a reward we slowly earn along the way. In art as in life, understanding does not precede action; the path only reveals its true form to those who are willing to walk it.