2024 FOTOFOCUS BIENNIAL: backstories

Biennial Opening Program: September 26–28, 2024

  • 01 2018 Biennial Week 10 06 ArtHub Performance by Jacob Drabik DSC3502

    2018 FotoFocus Biennial: Audience at a performance of Mid-Day Ghost in the FotoFocus ArtHub in Washington Park

  • 02 2018 Biennial 09 21 CAC Opening by Jacob Drabik DSC2132

    2018 FotoFocus Biennial: Guest viewing No Two Alike: Karl Blossfeldt, Francis Bruguière, Thomas Ruff at the Contemporary Arts Center

  • 2016 Biennial NURFC Program by Zanele Muholi 2016 Oct 8 Muholi speaks @FotoFocus 8999

    2016 FotoFocus Biennial: Zanele Muholi speaking during reception for FotoFocus Curated Exhibitions Zanele Muholi: Personae, Jackie Nickerson: August, and Robin Rhode: Three Films

  • 2014 Biennial John Waters 06 DSC4486 by Jacob Drabik

    2014 FotoFocus Biennial: John Waters’ This Filthy World at Memorial Hall

  • 05 2018 Biennial Containment Opening by Jacob Drabik DSC8867

    2018 FotoFocus Biennial: Artist Chris Engman discussing his project Prospect and Refuge at the Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Art Gallery

  • 2022 10 01 AAC Street Party by Nicholas Namyar IMG 8515

    2022 FotoFocus Biennial: Street Party for Ian Strange: Disturbed Home and Annex at Art Academy of Cincinnati

  • 07 2018 Biennial Week 10 07 Woodward Miranda July by Jacob Drabik DSC4361

    2018 FotoFocus Biennial: Conversation with Miranda July: Cinema and the Archive at the The Woodward Theater

  • 04 2018 Biennial Week 10 05 CAC Opening by Jacob Drabik DSC3118

    2018 FotoFocus Biennial: Performance during the Opening Celebrations at the Contemporary Arts Center

  • 2022 09 30 CAC Reception Screening Talk by Jacob Drabik DSC6291

    2022 FotoFocus Biennial: Guests socializing during the Members Reception & Tours for FotoFocus Curated Exhibitions On the Line: Documents of Risk and Faith; Images on which to build, 1970s–1990s, and Baseera Khan: Weight on History

  • 09 2022 10 01 AAC Street Party by Nicholas Namyar IMG 8346

    2022 FotoFocus Biennial: Street Party for Ian Strange: Disturbed Home and Annex at Art Academy of Cincinnati

An ambitious collaboration between FotoFocus and the region’s museums, galleries, universities, and non-traditional spaces, the FotoFocus Biennial is a month-long celebration of photography and lens-based art that unites artists, curators, and educators from around the world. Now in its seventh iteration, the 2024 FotoFocus Biennial encompasses projects at Participating Venues across Greater Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, and Northern Kentucky—the largest of its kind in America. This year’s Biennial showcases major new artist commissions and a wide range of original exhibitions, events, and projects, all centered around the theme of backstories.

The 2024 Biennial theme focuses on stories that are not evident at first glance. They 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.

The FotoFocus Biennial Opening Program (Thursday, September 26 through Saturday, September 28, 2024) constitutes the core of the Biennial, establishing the theme and dialogues that unite the broader programming. Featuring keynote lectures, conversations, performances, screenings, tours, and receptions with international participants, the Program is designed to inspire conversations about the world through photography, film, and lens-based art.

While many venues are free and open to the public, the Biennial Passport offers access to special exhibitions and events during the month of October; an invitation to members-only programs; and entry into the FotoFocus Biennial Opening Program. The Biennial Passport will once again be free in 2024.

Press Release (PDF): FotoFocus Announces 2024 Biennial Theme


About the Theme

Each FotoFocus Biennial is structured around a unifying theme. The 2024 FotoFocus Biennial theme, backstories, focuses on stories that are not evident at first glance. They 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. Backstories fill in where the evidence ends, adding nuance, solving mysteries, or simply telling us something we need to know.

To some extent, all histories are backstories. Histories emanating from archives, discovered through reporting, or revealed through gossip provide essential contexts for understanding a given photograph. Similarly, series of photographs have built-in backstories, offering greater context for those singular images we tend to valorize as “telling the whole story.”

In all these instances, what is visible on the surface—what is easily photographed—is enlarged and enriched through an understanding of broader histories, by seeing beyond what is evident, by knowing the backstories.


How To Participate

2024 FotoFocus Biennial: backstories

The Participating Venue Application for the 2024 FotoFocus Biennial is now closed, and there are currently no open call exhibition opportunities. Once available, they will be listed here.


2026 FotoFocus Biennial

Applications will be available for the 2026 FotoFocus Biennial in the Summer of 2025. If you are an institution, photographer, or lens-based artist who has access to an exhibition space in the Greater Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, and Northern Kentucky area that is interested in participating in the 2026 FotoFocus Biennial—please complete this form.

For additional information and questions related to the application process, please email hello@fotofocus.org.

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