The Lens

On Devil’s Promenade, a road located in southwest Missouri near Oklahoma and Arkansas, there is a stretch where people are likely to encounter the Spook Light, a scientifically inexplicable floating orb that moves, disappears, reappears, and sometimes splits in two or three. Community members know it well. Some search for it, while others keep their distance.

In Devil’s Promenade, photographers and Ozark natives Lara Shipley and Antone Dolezal blend the folklore and local history of their home region with present-day photographs of Ozark people, land, and interpretive images engaging the living mythology of... Continue reading Devil’s Promenade

In 2023, UNESCO designated World Heritage Site status to a group of four Hopewell sites in Ohio, adding them to the ranks of the Taj Mahal, Stonehenge, and Machu Picchu as places of “outstanding value to humanity.” This extraordinary group of Hopewell earthworks represents a tiny portion of the approximately 10,000 Adena, Hopewell, and Fort Ancient Earthworks that dotted the Ohio Valley at the end of the 18th century. Today, fewer than 1,000 earthworks remain. In the 250 years since European-American settlers made their unrelenting push into the Ohio Valley woodlands, many of the tall conical mounds, long ridges, and geometric... Continue reading Cultural Exchange:: What Remains: A Contemporary Interpretation of Native American Earthworks in The Ohio Valley

Immigrants and refugees make vast contributions and have a broad impact across the Greater Cincinnati region. The work by Michelle D’Cruz and HATSUE showcases the unique stories of community leaders who are drivers of innovation, growth, and creativity. Specifically, this work is a platform for immigrant and refugee communities to explore how their own complex histories have driven them to lead others. Individuals provide counter-narratives to harmful myths of the model minority and forever foreigner, balancing the intimacy of one’s migratory story as a core driver of action but refusing to be limited by that story. 

Immigrant leaders of... Continue reading Cultural Exchange:: Still Moving

Seventeen emerging and underrepresented lens-based artists working in the mediums of photography, video, performance, collage, and mixed media explore the concept of proclaiming one's existence through image-making and storytelling. In our social landscape, the phrase "____ was here" is a familiar declaration found on walls and public surfaces, symbolizing an act of marking one's time and presence in a place. Taking inspiration from renowned photographer Ming Smith, this exhibition evokes her perspective of “celebrating the struggle, the survival, and finding grace in it.” I Was Here celebrates Smith’s legacy while providing young artists the opportunity to present work inspired by her... Continue reading I Was Here

Curated by Toilynn O’Neal Turner, in partnership with Arabeth Balasko, Curator of Photographs, Prints, and Media at the Cincinnati Museum Center, Lens of History explores the rich tapestry of Black history in Cincinnati through the lens of Black photographers and community photo collections from the 1800s to the 2000s. The exhibition showcases the often overlooked and sometimes unseen contributions and experiences of Black individuals and communities throughout Cincinnati’s history. Through photographs of people and spaces, triumph and resilience, extraordinary moments and everyday life, viewers can discover the past in a profound new way. Works in the exhibition offer a vivid, powerful... Continue reading Lens of History: Celebration of People, Spaces, and Emotion