FotoFocus Announces Big Tent Gallery Talks Program

FotoFocus Center | 228 E Liberty Street, Cincinnati
On View May 29–August 22, 2026
Opening Reception Friday, May 29 | 6-8pm

Cincinnati, OH (May 5, 2026) — FotoFocus is pleased to announce its program of talks for Big Tent, the inaugural exhibition at the new FotoFocus Center, a 14,700 square foot, purpose-built structure to house photographic exhibitions and year-round programs. To expand the artistic and intellectual scope of Big Tent, FotoFocus will present a series of talks touching on themes that resound throughout the exhibition: equality, pluralism, freedom of speech, and the democratic values the United States has long championed, now perceived to be under threat.

“Big Tent is uniquely suited to engage viewers in dialogue around the question of photography and its relationship to democracy,” said FotoFocus Executive Director Katherine Ryckman Siegwarth. “This series of talks will meaningfully expand upon the curatorial vision and demonstrate that photography can be a catalyst for conversations that inspire and challenge in equal measure.”

Big Tent brings together photographs that span the better part of the past century, from celebrated masterworks to more recent experiments with form and contemporary meaning, to create an exhibition that celebrates the democratizing potential of photography. Partly inspired by the poem ‘In This Place (An American Lyric)’ by Amanda Gorman, the exhibition takes the concept of ‘big tent’—commonly defined with reference to a political party’s policy of permitting or encouraging a broad spectrum of views among its members—as a metaphor for the fraught yet aspirational nature of American civic life and its democratic ideals. With work spanning several decades and of vastly different photographic styles and formats, Big Tent demonstrates the radically diverse character of contemporary America, seeing it as a point of pride rather than shame, as cause for celebration instead of reaction. 

Big Tent includes work by Francis Alÿs, Marco Anelli, Tina Barney, Gary Beeber, Dawoud Bey, Sheila Pree Bright, Elliott Jerome Brown, Jr., Chivas Clem, Andrew Dadson, Moyra Davey, John Divola, Elena Dorfman, Alyse Emdur, Mitch Epstein, Roe Ethridge, Asa Featherstone IV, Lola Flash, Stanley Forman, Robert Frank, Jill Freedman, Rico Gatson, Katy Grannan, Melvin Grier, Tina Gutierrez, Sky Hopinka, Madeleine Hordinski, Samuel James, Stacy Kranitz, Justine Kurland, An-My Lê, Builder Levy, Danny Lyon, Robert Mapplethorpe, Elaine Mayes, Jackie Nickerson, Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs, Catherine Opie, Trevor Paglen, Gordon Parks, Judith Joy Ross, RaMell Ross, Ruddy Roye, Tommaso Sacconi, Collier Schorr, Allan Sekula, Fazal Sheikh, Accra Shepp, David Benjamin Sherry, Cauleen Smith, Tabitha Soren, Alec Soth, Paul Strand, Ian Strange, Larry Sultan, Stephanie Syjuco, and Michael Wilson.

The event is free and open to the public, but registration is requested. Those interested can register here. For more information, please visit fotofocus.org. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) will be provided, with live captions viewable via any mobile device with internet connection. For questions regarding accessibility accommodations at FotoFocus events, please contact info@fotofocus.org.

This program is financially assisted in part by H.B., E.W. & F.R. Luther Foundation, Fifth Third Bank, N.A., Trustee. Additional support generously provided by the Ohio Arts Council.

Gallery Talks Program

Saturday, May 30 | 1–5pm

1pm Light Bites and Refreshments
2pm Rico Gatson and David Benjamin Sherry 
3pm Marco Anelli and Stacy Kranitz
4pm Alyse Emdur and Accra Shepp 

Saturday, July 18 | 1–5pm

1pm Light Bites and Refreshments
2pm Asa Featherstone IV and Melvin Grier
3pm Tina Gutierrez and Samuel James
4pm Madeleine Hordinski and Michael Wilson  

Saturday, August 22 | 6–8pm

6pm Closing Reception and Exhibition Catalogue Release

Press Release originally published on May 5, 2026.