Since 2012, FotoFocus has invited Greater Cincinnati to its Biennial event, held in even-numbered years to celebrate the dynamic, diverse nature of photography and how it documents and inspires our lives.
This October, more than 80 regional venues will host FotoFocus events. To whet the community’s appetite for the Biennial, festivities will kick off with
An Opening Weekend program with events Friday through Sunday (Sept. 27-29).
Katie Siegwarth, who joined FotoFocus in 2021 as director of its Biennial, having previously served as the Dayton Art Institute’s Kettering Curator of Photography and Special Projects and assumed the role of executive director at the end of 2022. She’s drawn to photography because of its broad storytelling capability.
“Photography is inherently interdisciplinary,” she said. “It can be portrayed as an abstract artform or real-life documentation. People sometimes think about it as too mechanical. It’s not a replacement for the human eye, and it doesn’t replace individual perspectives, but it’s a powerful tool for capturing the human experience.”
This year’s Biennial theme,
backstories, delves into stories and narratives that strive to plumb greater depths than how stories appear at first glance. FotoFocus describes the theme as such: “These stories offer context for what happened previously or out of view, providing narratives not yet told or presented from a new perspective. Yet once told, they shed light on current circumstances and events.”
“We live in a world where people need to understand what they’re looking at and the perspective behind it,” Siegwarth said. “The theme helps provide photography as a reference point that helps change our understanding of specific events and challenge the perception of what’s the truths. I can’t think of a time when this wasn’t relevant, but it’s especially relevant today.”
She appreciates that artistic disciplines are more accessible to the larger population than a removed, often expensive spectator event. “Arts and culture used to be like entertainment, but it’s become far more intermixed with our lives. Many arts fairs and festival are more community-based, creating a dialogue, a broader audience appeal that brings people together,” said Siegwarth.
Most Biennial events, including the Opening Weekend, are accessible via the FotoFocus
Passport program, which provides free admission to more than 100 project exhibits.
“I think the strength of the Biennial is that, as an invitational, it is the multitude of perspectives that so many of us don’t think about,” she said. “Even if someone attends only one show, I’m hopeful that they will leave with something new that feeds their interest and curiosity.”
Events include Friday’s 5 p.m. opening reception at the Cincinnati Art Museum for the exhibit
“Discovering Ansel Adams” which provides a retrospective that delves into the early years of the revered nature photographer’s career. The exhibit’s curators, Rebecca Senf, Ph.D., the chief curator for the University of Arizona’s Center for Creative Photography, and Nathaniel M. Stein, Ph.D., the Cincinnati Art Museum’s curator of photography, will give a talk on Adams’ background as a musician and outdoorsman and his evolution as an artist. The Senf-Stein talk is sold out, but Passport registrants may attend the opening reception. “Discovering Ansel Adams” will remain at the Art Museum until January 19.
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On Saturday afternoon, the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) will host a tour led by exhibited photographer Chip Thomas, creator of “The Painted Desert Project.”
On Saturday afternoon from 1-2 p.m., the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) will host a tour led by exhibited photographer Chip Thomas who’s based in Flagstaff, Arizona and creator of
“The Painted Desert Project.” Thomas, who’s a physician and activist as well as an artist, moved to the Navajo Nation in Arizona in 1987. Working under the pseudonym jetsonorama, his work has combined photography and street art, and the exhibit, according to FotoFocus’ website, “original, documentary-style photographs and their application as elements in public art, installation, film, and graphic media.” Kevin Moore, FotoFocus’ artistic director, curated the exhibit. Thomas’ exhibit will be on display at the CAC until January 5.
On Saturday evening from 4-8 p.m. at the Art Academy of Cincinnati (AAC), the Academy will host an opening reception tour for a trio of exhibits. All of them will be display at the AAC until November 1:
- “Digressions” an exhibit (with a companion book) that encapsulates scenes and experiences that document Midwestern life. Written and recorded correspondence between artists Mark Albain and Joshua Berg and their friends, family, and coworkers create the exhibit’s context.
- “Another First Impression” which features six BIPOC artists from Cincinnati, Chicago, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Pittsburgh. FotoFocus notes that the exhibit’s photos, essays, and interviews “shines a spotlight on BIPOC communities that have long been marginalized or overlooked, capturing the essence of its people, landscapes, and cultures with honesty and reverence.”
- “Humphrey Gets His Flowers” which entails photos taken by the performance collective Mute-N-Heard, led by artist Michael Coppage, which silently walked streets as characters that personify the struggles caused by mental health issues, racism, sexism, and other societal ills. Their journey is documented in the exhibit through photography, archival video, large-scale projections, and mixed-media collages.
On Sunday afternoon from 12-5 p.m. at Memorial Hall, FotoFocus will host the
Biennial Symposium, will feature talks on discussion panels several featured exhibits, culminating in a keynote address by Kathy Ryan, the former director of photography for
The New York Times Magazine.