The Lens

Artist and activist Felipe Rivas San Martín’s multimedia practice fuses artistic representation with technology. In 1999, homosexuality was decriminalized in the artist’s home country, Chile. Since this shift in legality, Rivas San Martín’s work explores the existence of sexual diversity, while being critical of the notion that certain sexualities are inherently “deviant.”

In the series A Non-Existent Queer Archive, Rivas San Martín employs artificial intelligence to generate photographs of homosexual couples, resulting in sepia-toned portraits. In the absence of a long-documented queer history within his culture, Rivas San Martín creates his own records, stories, and visual markers of pasts... Continue reading Spotlight: Felipe Rivas San Martín

The American Midwest, stretching from Ohio to the Dakotas, stands as a distinctive region within the United States. Often stereotyped for its cornfields, state fairs, and humble values, the Midwest is too frequently defined by what it lacks—coastlines, mountains, and attention. Yet, beneath these shallow perceptions lies a rich tapestry of culture and heritage unique to the heartland of America. Distinguished by its large cities, quaint towns, and sprawling rural landscapes, the Midwest boasts a heritage and identity distinct from other regions of the country.

Despite its stereotypical associations, the Midwest harbors a wealth of diversity and complexity waiting... Continue reading Midwest Americana

Every gathering of people has a backstory. Images from Storytellers features a mixture of unchoreographed and staged photographic records from gatherings that reveal differing perspectives and relationships between photographer and subject. The works are created from various vantage points that do not necessarily feature the main event, but instead a necessary backstory. Photographers often capture moments that represent these alternate ideas, in spite of knowing these are not the desired images, believing they are key moments that must exist to capture the interaction, behavior, and emotion of those involved.

Artists: Gregory Changa Freeman, Susanne Conyers, Shon Curtis, Alfred Powell,... Continue reading Images from Storytellers

In these underwater photographs by Tina Gutierrez, the beauty in the movement of dancers and their ability to adapt to an underwater environment can be directly attributed to their rigorous training and ballet culture. Unknown to most, dancers’ careers often end before they reach the age of 30. Authoritarian power structures, intensely competitive training and performing environments, and hypercritical, perfectionist attitudes contribute to the pressures dancers endure. While initially this can appear to facilitate success, it ultimately compromises the health of performers. 

Ballet is a ‘culture of risk’ that normalizes pain and injury, and... Continue reading Tina Gutierrez: Illumination

“Nightlife in Renderville” is a single chapter of the forthcoming book, Renderville, A Guide, about a town that doesn’t actually exist. The exhibition is a collection of urban street photography, captured between dusk and dawn, and an exercise in worldbuilding after a traumatic brain injury. The project documents the rendering process of physical reconstruction and the challenges of relearning old skills, particularly the use of a digital camera. 

While street photography is inherently tied to improvisation, as in capturing luck through a lens, night photography is a unique challenge since available light changes constantly while navigating city streets. The... Continue reading Casey LeClair: Nightlife In Renderville