The Lens

Talk doesn't have to be cheap. For example, these Lens Mix conversations with artists, curators, authors, historians, and more from October 2020 through May 2021.

Created in celebration of FotoFocus's tenth anniversary, Lens Mix was a monthly virtual conversation series connecting speakers from different fields to comment on film, photography, and lens-based art. The free series, moderated by FotoFocus Artistic Director and Curator Kevin Moore, invited speakers to explore each others’ artistic practice and projects through intimate discussions.

Whether your pandemic schedule... Continue reading Watch Party: Lens Mix

Society, you may have noticed, has seemed a bit unhinged of late. On Saturday, April 10, artist John Miller and art critic and historian Hal Foster will talk with FotoFocus Artistic Director and Curator Kevin Moore about the question of finding meaning and sense as the futures of art, society, and politics seem to unfold in increasingly erratic ways.

Art critic and historian Hal Foster is the author of numerous books, including, most recently, What Comes After Farce? Art and Criticism at a Time of Debacle (Verso, 2020) and... Continue reading Art Critic and Historian Hal Foster Talks States of Emergency and Structural Change

Few among us can count Michelle Obama as a personal booster, but all of us can now hear from one who does: In anticipation of her March 4 Lens Mix talk, FotoFocus caught up with celebrated director and cinematographer Nadia Hallgren.

An award-winning filmmaker from the Bronx, New York, Nadia Hallgren directed the Emmy Award–nominated documentary Becoming and the Academy Award–shortlisted short documentary After Maria—though those are just two recent titles on a CV packed with acclaimed work.

On March 4, Hallgren will join... Continue reading Documentary Filmmaker Nadia Hallgren Talks Storytelling, the Particular Power of Film, and Getting Beyond Self-Doubt

As FotoFocus celebrates its first decade, we get the behind-the-scenes scoop of how it started—and what the future holds—from eight people who have lived it.

I. Origin Story

TOM SCHIFF, Founder, FotoFocus and CEO, Lightborne: The idea started maybe 12 years ago or so with James Crump, who was the curator of photography at the Cincinnati Art Museum. I mentioned to him that I thought there were never enough photography exhibits in Cincinnati. I thought, If we could have a... Continue reading FotoFocus at 10: An Oral History

Political crises are often abstract, even invisible—and thus difficult to record, particularly in a single frame. So how do we, in a state of isolation, move beyond the isolated image to see what's happening?

A friend pointed out recently that the months of isolation have made us not only worried and frustrated but also socially awkward. As we venture out of our pods, we are rusty at communicating, made worse by masks and other safety protocols. You can’t read facial expressions, you don’t know where someone has been, you... Continue reading The Allure and Pitfalls of Seeing Photographs, and the World, in Isolation