The Lens

Convening Stories at the Crossroads is a site-specific, outdoor, projection-based public artwork that explores intersecting histories and experiences of place. Working in video and sound, artist Diane Fellows weaves together multiple strands and sources to construct enterable spaces and compelling filmic and sonic narratives. Participation, collaboration, and input from community members creates a collage of stories that moves through the landscape, unearthing moments of friction as well as weaving together past and present, town and gown, and urban and rural experiences in Butler County. 

Images and sound overtake the Performing Arts Quad, home to a public sculpture by Ursula... Continue reading Convening Stories at the Crossroads

Most exhibitions, books, and other projects produced about the historic 1964 Mississippi Summer Project, more commonly known as Freedom Summer, have centered on the history of the training sessions and voter registration efforts in the deep South. Exhibitions on the subject typically feature photographs as supporting materials which provide a visual narrative. Through Their Lens: Photographing Freedom Summer takes a new approach by flipping the focus and allowing those behind the lens to tell their own backstories. The exhibition presents the most important photographers who documented the historic project, including Danny Lyon, Ted Polumbaum, Herbert Randall , Steve Schapiro, and Tamio... Continue reading Through Their Lens: Photographing Freedom Summer

Late in 2020, as the pandemic raged, Matthew Shelton escaped his home in Chicago for three weeks and visited South Carolina’s low-country coastal area near Beaufort. This was a uniquely personal experience, as the artist had lived near this area in childhood and had rarely returned. Multiple visits were made to Hunting Island State Park, a place more renowned for its wild forests and dramatically shifting coastline than its beaches. 

Stairways that once led to the beach are buried now, with occasional traces showing up through the sand. Cabins that were fully functional 30 years ago are now ruins,... Continue reading Hunting Island

Main Street, located in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati, has a deeply-rooted history in arts and entertainment that continues to this day. It is home to some of the best dive bars, vintage shops, art galleries, tattoo parlors, and live music venues that Cincinnati has to offer. But its reputation is not just one of an arts and entertainment district. As with any main drag in an American city, it has its fair share of undesirable events. Not to mention, the entirety of Over-the-Rhine has earned a spot on the list of most dangerous neighborhoods, not only in Cincinnati but the... Continue reading Elisa Fay: I Hate You I Love You

Pick It Up, Turn It Over is rooted in the unrealized potential of the back of the traditional photograph. While at times it’s a space for personal notes about enlarger settings, contrast filters, exposure times, or the characters and setting of a cherished family photograph, the back of the photo has the capacity to reshape its story through dialogue with its front image and requires a spatial interaction with its viewers.

Selected photographers create lens-based, light-based works of art that push beyond the ubiquity of screen-based imagery. By exploring the potential of photographic... Continue reading Pick It Up, Turn It Over: Exploring the Power of the Physical Photograph