The Lens

Cameron Granger (b. 1993, Cleveland, OH; lives and works in Columbus, OH) is an artist and filmmaker whose works offer poignant meditations on Black history and culture, highlighting not only the systems of racial inequity that target and police Blackness, but the communities that continue to thrive, persist, and, most importantly, demonstrate love. As a Black man raised by his mother and grandmother in Ohio, Granger often uses his home state as a backdrop in his works, centering its local communities. His installation The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Heaven features the Near East Side of... Continue reading Cameron Granger: The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Heaven

PORTALS is a photo and light-based installation that seeks to reorient one's experience of the world. Mirroring the Earth’s sphere, circular "portals" offer images of our environment. The portals range in content from macro landscapes taken at Yellowstone to micro details of everyday life such as shoelaces. As the colors slowly change, different aspects of the images are emphasized, blurring the distinction between what is natural and what is constructed. This synergy mirrors the world as people know it in the Anthropocene: a geological time period wherein humans are the dominant influence on the environment. Small pieces of trash are... Continue reading Jesse Byerly: PORTALS

The Weston Art Gallery presents Michael Coppage: American+, an exhibition of new and ongoing lens-based projects exploring the negative archetypes and stark racial disparities still operating in the language and psychology of contemporary American culture. Through a series of provocative sound, video, and photography installations, Coppage’s participatory projects elicit questions and upend stereotypes by inverting historical scenarios and asking viewers to confront racist terminology. Trained as a sculptor and painter, the Cincinnati-based Chicago native did not see “any broad sweeping progress in the treatment of Black people” until the murder of George Floyd in 2020 galvanized the... Continue reading Michael Coppage: American+

Photography can be used as a vehicle to illustrate mankind's impact on the environment. Often these images and projects call attention to industry's negative impact, losing perspective and nuance to our own participation in it. Ryan Hill: A Thousand Words… features images documenting land development sites, art and music festivals, and consumerism, demonstrating the complexity and interconnectivity of society's impact on the world. Curator: Hunter Fleury Continue reading Ryan Hill: A Thousand Words…

Strangers in a Strange Land: Photographs of American Visionary Artists and Eccentrics presents a diverse group of visionary artists and eccentrics who collectively represent a vanishing fragment within American culture. In contrast to our bland, consumer-oriented society, the lyrical worlds created by these often marginalized, sometimes unconventional visionaries result in a universe of places and artifacts rich in meaning, juxtapositions, and unintended beauty. Some are utopian, others dystopian. Their visions and life experiences shape the environments they construct—generally out of found materials discarded by modern mass culture. They express a wide array of religious, social, political, and spiritual themes. With... Continue reading Strangers in a Strange Land: Photographs of American Visionary Artists and Eccentrics