Photo by Jacob Drabik

The Lens

The Lens is the FotoFocus editorial platform, highlighting our programming and featuring in-depth conversations on photography and the moving image drawn from perspectives and insights in our community, throughout our region, and around the globe.


Acknowledge Reveal Disclose

Posted on May 22, 2023

Acknowledge Reveal Disclose is an exhibition of portrait photographs made by individuals from across the region who are active and passionate in their pursuit of photography. Many are not photographers by training or profession, and many have chosen to work in analog film processes. These individuals are part of an organically growing and highly energized community of picture-makers. The exhibition draws attention to and encourages the growth of that community.

Acknowledge Reveal Disclose aligns with the organization’s mission to encourage creative community. In its Community Gallery, the Fitton Center collaborates with area universities, schools, social service organizations, retirement communities,... Continue reading Acknowledge Reveal Disclose


Recording Cincinnati: The Queen City In The Eyes Of Alice Cusson

Posted on March 23, 2022

The seventy-year-old slides of Cincinnati amateur photographer Alice Cusson are a deeply moving document of Cincinnati's past. Large-scale reproductions of Cusson's grainy slides, recently discovered by UC student and curator Jack Hall, make up the core of this exhibition. Matched with modern-day photos and compelling sound clips (that you can explore with your phone), these images tell a moving story about change over time in the Queen City.

The exhibition focuses specifically on Cincinnati—Alice Cusson's world. Most of Cusson's photos document Cincinnati landmarks, including The Terrace Plaza, The Hotel Alms, St. Francis DeSales Church, Memorial Hall, Ivorydale, and The... Continue reading Recording Cincinnati: The Queen City In The Eyes Of Alice Cusson


New Tides

Posted on March 22, 2022

This exhibition highlights works concerned with the ebb and flow of social, political, and artistic trends and how these tropes and themes can return with differing focus and intensity. Presenting the swell of ideas, explorations, and concerns of emerging photographers from within the Midwest, the exhibition demonstrates how they see, process, and contextualize the recurrence and reemergence of social, political, and artistic trends in their own practices that establishes a new World Record. This exhibition serves as an artistic interpretation of world events/records from the perspective of emerging artists from across the Midwest. New Tides Continue reading New Tides

I Hear America Singing: Contemporary Photography from America

Posted on

The Columbus Museum of Art presents the exhibition I Hear America Singing: Contemporary Photography from America, on view at The Pizzuti Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art in the city’s Short North. Curated by Ashley Lumb, the exhibition was conceived for the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts in Amman, Jordan where it was presented in 2021. For Walt Whitman, the strength of the nation derived from the collective contributions of individuals, as was expressed in his poem “I Hear America Singing,” first published in the 1860 edition of Continue reading I Hear America Singing: Contemporary Photography from America

Refuge: Needing, Seeking, Creating Shelter

Posted on

Refuge: Needing, Seeking, Creating Shelter is a look at civil strife, economic insecurity, and proliferating environmental crises, as artists from across the globe explore the search for refuge—how, why, and where people need, seek, and create shelter. The technologies of transport have long determined the movement of people and goods, fueling the expansion of empire and capital, the displacement of communities and resources, the shapes of borders. As the global refugee crisis continues, ensuring universal access to human rights in a world where, as poet Amit Majmudar says, “There’s no America to sail to anymore,” will require seismic changes—changes potentially... Continue reading Refuge: Needing, Seeking, Creating Shelter