top of page
Yelena-Zhavoronkova
seen / unseen
The visible and the implied
Years ago after being at Review Santa Fe, this might have been 2008 or 2009, I curated
an invitational show at RayKo Photo Center in San Francisco, based on the work I’d
seen at that review. I called it “Scene Unseen.” Enough time has passed that I can only
remember flickering images now, like an illuminated vacuum cleaner on a blue snow-
covered frozen lake at night and another photograph of a perfectly square brown bush,
a topiary gone wrong. When asked to jury this show, “Seen/Unseen,” I thought of all the
ways the world could look through a lens and all the small miracles that can happen
thanks to the artists’ creativity and vision and openness to magic.
It wasn’t easy whittling down thousands of images to just sixty. Sixty moments that were
unique and challenging and beautiful and dreamy and sometimes horrific and dark, but
always something I hadn’t seen. When I thought of my award winners, I thought of how
a house at night could appear like a miniature diorama. Not real at all, but a construction
in the smallest room (Bolko Stolberg). I thought of the times I’d been to Joshua Tree
National Park and the great open lands of the West, but I never saw a figure draped and
bound in the rocks. An apparition? Maybe (Sandra Hoover). And then there were
moments that felt like film stills, flashes from a movie, images that if you looked back
again, they wouldn’t be there or if they were, you still wouldn’t believe it (Lee Rogers).
It’s a wonderful journey, this show of light and shadow, dreams and reality, fleeting
glimpses, poignant moments, tiny details of hair and hands and breath and holding that
breath. The photographers have stopped time and made me look, not once, not twice,
but again and again. And as Cartier-Bresson would tell you, there aren’t many
photographs that you can look at again and again.
Congratulations to all the artists and thank you for taking me on this journey with you!
Ann Jastrab, July 2026
First Place: Bolko Stolberg
Second Place: Sandra Hoover
Third Place: Lee Rogers
Honorable Mention: Saiss Cruz Santana
Honorable Mention: Lauren Caddick
Human Presence Award: Pardis Hesami & Mahan Abasian
In Darkness 8
BOLKO STOLBERG
Los Angeles, CA
The project In Darkness, These Eyes Can See explores the moment when safety breaks without warning - when the home, once a sanctuary, turns to danger. The shift is abrupt: light that once comforted now cuts deep; silence begins to echo.
These images sit at that moment between before and after, when the familiar remains intact yet is void of meaning. The home still stands, but the promise has vanished, leaving only a ghost of sanctuary carried by memory.
In the darkness that follows, vision adapts. The eyes learn to see differently, finding clarity not in light but in loss.
Los Angeles, CA
The project In Darkness, These Eyes Can See explores the moment when safety breaks without warning - when the home, once a sanctuary, turns to danger. The shift is abrupt: light that once comforted now cuts deep; silence begins to echo.
These images sit at that moment between before and after, when the familiar remains intact yet is void of meaning. The home still stands, but the promise has vanished, leaving only a ghost of sanctuary carried by memory.
In the darkness that follows, vision adapts. The eyes learn to see differently, finding clarity not in light but in loss.
The Salad Bowl Man-Joshua Tree
SANDRA HOOVER
Hayward, CA
The Salad Bowl Man in Joshua Tree, CA.
Hayward, CA
The Salad Bowl Man in Joshua Tree, CA.
125th Street Station
LEE ROGERS
Great Barrington, MA
My work consists of prints that are a combination of photograph and photogram, that I create myself in the darkroom. I originally envisioned this idea and began experimenting with it around 1990. My subject matter is landscapes, mostly natural. During the photo shoot I collect a few naturally found objects that are abundant. My prints that are created by combining the 2 traditional, pre-digital methods of black and white become a unique rendering of the landscape, in which the objects that are found within the terrain blend with the scene itself.
Great Barrington, MA
My work consists of prints that are a combination of photograph and photogram, that I create myself in the darkroom. I originally envisioned this idea and began experimenting with it around 1990. My subject matter is landscapes, mostly natural. During the photo shoot I collect a few naturally found objects that are abundant. My prints that are created by combining the 2 traditional, pre-digital methods of black and white become a unique rendering of the landscape, in which the objects that are found within the terrain blend with the scene itself.
Joseph-1
SAISS CRUZ SANTANA
New York City, NY
Saiss Cruz Santana’s (b. 2002, New York, NY) images subtly note the role that community, intimacy, and intersubjectivity have in the subtext presented in their work. A practiced filmmaker from ACTvF (21’) and self-taught photographer based in New York, Santana catalogs their familiarity with queerness and intersectionality, based on their experiences as an afro-latino queer man.
Capturing became a medium to express the direction of their life and how the people who surrounded
them shaped it.
New York City, NY
Saiss Cruz Santana’s (b. 2002, New York, NY) images subtly note the role that community, intimacy, and intersubjectivity have in the subtext presented in their work. A practiced filmmaker from ACTvF (21’) and self-taught photographer based in New York, Santana catalogs their familiarity with queerness and intersectionality, based on their experiences as an afro-latino queer man.
Capturing became a medium to express the direction of their life and how the people who surrounded
them shaped it.
I'm Good, Let's Stay
LAUREN CADDICK
Durham, NC
The father is the figure who emerges first, while the children reveal themselves more slowly. That dynamic mirrors my experience of entering a family through one clear relationship, while learning the children gradually, in fragments and glimpses. The image holds a moment of ease, but also the distance from which that ease is being observed.
Durham, NC
The father is the figure who emerges first, while the children reveal themselves more slowly. That dynamic mirrors my experience of entering a family through one clear relationship, while learning the children gradually, in fragments and glimpses. The image holds a moment of ease, but also the distance from which that ease is being observed.
57
PARDIS HESAMI & MAHAN ABASIAN
Tehran, Iran
A man lies on the ground, vomiting in his sleep. Above him, a religious inscription is written on the wall — words of blessing, meant to protect. Between the inscription and the man, we embroidered fifty-seven flowers in blue and gold, floating where his breath would rise.
The flowers do not touch him. They hover above the image, closer to the words on the wall than to the body on the ground — as if blessing and suffering exist in the same frame but on separate planes, never quite reaching each other.
Fifty-seven is not a symbolic number here. It is simply how many flowers it took to fill that particular distance between a sacred phrase and an unconscious body. The gold thread catches light the way the prayer catches nothing.
What is unseen here is not the man — he is entirely exposed — but whatever is supposed to answer a prayer written so close to someone no one has stopped to help.
Tehran, Iran
A man lies on the ground, vomiting in his sleep. Above him, a religious inscription is written on the wall — words of blessing, meant to protect. Between the inscription and the man, we embroidered fifty-seven flowers in blue and gold, floating where his breath would rise.
The flowers do not touch him. They hover above the image, closer to the words on the wall than to the body on the ground — as if blessing and suffering exist in the same frame but on separate planes, never quite reaching each other.
Fifty-seven is not a symbolic number here. It is simply how many flowers it took to fill that particular distance between a sacred phrase and an unconscious body. The gold thread catches light the way the prayer catches nothing.
What is unseen here is not the man — he is entirely exposed — but whatever is supposed to answer a prayer written so close to someone no one has stopped to help.
FIRST PLACE
SECOND PLACE
THIRD PLACE
HONORABLE MENTION
HONORABLE MENTION
HUMAN PRESENCE
Shadow Memory
ROBERT SULKIN
Roanoke, VA
I think about my images as evocations of thought, dreams or nightmares, and memory, and am as interested in what is not revealed in them as what is revealed.
I incorporate found old portraits from family collections, my own taken and altered landscapes, and sometimes biological specimens photographed at a local college.
Roanoke, VA
I think about my images as evocations of thought, dreams or nightmares, and memory, and am as interested in what is not revealed in them as what is revealed.
I incorporate found old portraits from family collections, my own taken and altered landscapes, and sometimes biological specimens photographed at a local college.
Memory 08
JEAN-CLAUDE BISE
Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Preserved mental image of past events.
Memories of events experienced during our childhood, then our adolescence. Memories of intense moments during the discovery of the components that drive the flow of existence.
Memory which reminds us through symbols of certain facts or events that we have experienced.
Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Preserved mental image of past events.
Memories of events experienced during our childhood, then our adolescence. Memories of intense moments during the discovery of the components that drive the flow of existence.
Memory which reminds us through symbols of certain facts or events that we have experienced.
Stars, Columbus, WI, 2026
STEVE DAUBS
Madison, WI
Small town America has both a mythology and reality. It is quiet, sometimes fading, always adapting.
There is community; there is isolation. Acceptance and exclusion. It is where I come from, and I have spent years traversing the highways of my youth re-examining the languid topography of these places.
What is unseen are the people; what is seen is the evidence of their persistence. These are fiber silver gelatin prints from 35mm black and white negatives.
Madison, WI
Small town America has both a mythology and reality. It is quiet, sometimes fading, always adapting.
There is community; there is isolation. Acceptance and exclusion. It is where I come from, and I have spent years traversing the highways of my youth re-examining the languid topography of these places.
What is unseen are the people; what is seen is the evidence of their persistence. These are fiber silver gelatin prints from 35mm black and white negatives.
Shadow Creature
JOYCE ANDERSEN
Wilton, CT
My photographic journey began as a means to document the chaotic beauty of life. Over time, it has evolved into a passion which keeps me alert and drives me to explore the world, looking for unique moments. My goal is to create images that not only capture the eye but also
engage the soul, inviting viewers to pause, reflect and connect with the stories told. Through my photography, I aim to inspire a greater appreciation for the world around us and to create a sense of connection and respect for the diverse tapestry of our planet. Each photograph is a piece of my journey, a chapter in the ongoing story of discovery that defines us all. I hope that people will relate to my images, sparking a sense of curiosity and a deeper understanding of the majestic beauty that surrounds us.
Wilton, CT
My photographic journey began as a means to document the chaotic beauty of life. Over time, it has evolved into a passion which keeps me alert and drives me to explore the world, looking for unique moments. My goal is to create images that not only capture the eye but also
engage the soul, inviting viewers to pause, reflect and connect with the stories told. Through my photography, I aim to inspire a greater appreciation for the world around us and to create a sense of connection and respect for the diverse tapestry of our planet. Each photograph is a piece of my journey, a chapter in the ongoing story of discovery that defines us all. I hope that people will relate to my images, sparking a sense of curiosity and a deeper understanding of the majestic beauty that surrounds us.
Pressure 9
ELIZABETH SPEAR
Jersey City, NJ
These photographs were created during a community portrait event exploring the invisible pressures we
carry. Participants were invited to reflect on what was weighing on them and respond instinctively through
interaction with a transparent sphere.
Some resisted. Some surrendered. Some found balance.
Pressure is rarely visible, yet it quietly shapes our lives. This series offers a temporary physical form to
those unseen forces, revealing that while the pressures we carry may differ, the experience of carrying them is nearly universal.
Jersey City, NJ
These photographs were created during a community portrait event exploring the invisible pressures we
carry. Participants were invited to reflect on what was weighing on them and respond instinctively through
interaction with a transparent sphere.
Some resisted. Some surrendered. Some found balance.
Pressure is rarely visible, yet it quietly shapes our lives. This series offers a temporary physical form to
those unseen forces, revealing that while the pressures we carry may differ, the experience of carrying them is nearly universal.
Seeing the Valley
SONIA MELNIKOVA-RAICH
San Francisco, CA
I am fascinated by photography's ability to reveal relationships that exist only for an instant and drawn tothe ambiguity and subtle poetry of ordinary moments. I feel strong affinity with the Japanese philosophy and aesthetic of wabi sabi, with its focus on the transient nature of things, preference for muted colors, and reverence for the modest beauty in old and simple things. I believe that photography is the best medium to express these ideas as each photograph is inherently an image of disappearance, a visual connection to the past forever stamped by time.
San Francisco, CA
I am fascinated by photography's ability to reveal relationships that exist only for an instant and drawn tothe ambiguity and subtle poetry of ordinary moments. I feel strong affinity with the Japanese philosophy and aesthetic of wabi sabi, with its focus on the transient nature of things, preference for muted colors, and reverence for the modest beauty in old and simple things. I believe that photography is the best medium to express these ideas as each photograph is inherently an image of disappearance, a visual connection to the past forever stamped by time.
Forest Hills
AMY LUO
Shenzhen, China
Several sebaceous cysts grew on my body for months before I knew they
were there — one of them large, at the back of my head. After surgeries, I
was required to lie still for days, pressing the wound against a folded
surgical gown to prevent infection. Days after the stitches were removed, I
came to New York to study.
Near where I live is a vast forest park. Time spent there helped me absorb
what the surgeries had left behind — the scars, and the quiet anxiety they
brought about my appearance and my sense of intimacy. I began to notice
the knots of trees: cross-sections of branches buried by years of growth,
their earlier forms concealed within. The forest became my muse and an
extension of my body: a living system of regeneration that mirrored what I
was trying to understand. When my body interferes with the life of other
elements in the forest, it leaves a trace.
I bring green backgrounds and photographs of my own body to organic
surfaces — to be touched by weather, to be transformed into something
else, to lose the precision of the studio and gain something more honest. I
leave the prints to be finished by what finds them — sap, rain, insects, light.
Each time I return, the forest has revised the portrait, and my next
photograph answers it. The work is never completed by me alone.
Shenzhen, China
Several sebaceous cysts grew on my body for months before I knew they
were there — one of them large, at the back of my head. After surgeries, I
was required to lie still for days, pressing the wound against a folded
surgical gown to prevent infection. Days after the stitches were removed, I
came to New York to study.
Near where I live is a vast forest park. Time spent there helped me absorb
what the surgeries had left behind — the scars, and the quiet anxiety they
brought about my appearance and my sense of intimacy. I began to notice
the knots of trees: cross-sections of branches buried by years of growth,
their earlier forms concealed within. The forest became my muse and an
extension of my body: a living system of regeneration that mirrored what I
was trying to understand. When my body interferes with the life of other
elements in the forest, it leaves a trace.
I bring green backgrounds and photographs of my own body to organic
surfaces — to be touched by weather, to be transformed into something
else, to lose the precision of the studio and gain something more honest. I
leave the prints to be finished by what finds them — sap, rain, insects, light.
Each time I return, the forest has revised the portrait, and my next
photograph answers it. The work is never completed by me alone.
A Greater Enemy of Truth Than Lies
YUJIE WU
Beijing, China
A Greater Enemy of Truth Than Lies is a photo- and video-based conceptual project examining Chinese formalism as a form of performative bureaucracy. Formalism, in this context, describes a system in which procedures, documentation, visible participation, and symbolic gestures gradually become more important than the problems they are meant to address.
The project explores how institutional systems can redefine meaningful action through visibility and compliance. Work is no longer measured only by what it accomplishes, but by whether it can be documented, presented, and recognized by authority. Over time, the performance of responsibility can begin to replace responsibility itself, allowing bureaucracy to function as an end rather than a means.
The project concerns how this logic becomes internalized. From education onward, individuals learn how to behave within systems of evaluation: how to demonstrate discipline, participation, productivity, and correctness in ways that can be easily recognized by those in authority. Repeated over time, these behaviors become habitual, shaping the way people understand institutions and their own roles within them.
These dynamics also sit within broader histories of political uncertainty, hierarchy, and the erosion of social trust in China. In environments where responsibility carries risk and trust is limited, following procedures and displaying correct behavior can become forms of self-protection. Formalism is therefore not simply inefficiency or absurdity, but also a survival strategy produced by the systems in which people operate.
Ultimately, A Greater Enemy of Truth Than Lies* examines how systems of power become embedded in everyday behavior, and how repeated performances of compliance can gradually replace trust, individual responsibility, and meaningful action.
Beijing, China
A Greater Enemy of Truth Than Lies is a photo- and video-based conceptual project examining Chinese formalism as a form of performative bureaucracy. Formalism, in this context, describes a system in which procedures, documentation, visible participation, and symbolic gestures gradually become more important than the problems they are meant to address.
The project explores how institutional systems can redefine meaningful action through visibility and compliance. Work is no longer measured only by what it accomplishes, but by whether it can be documented, presented, and recognized by authority. Over time, the performance of responsibility can begin to replace responsibility itself, allowing bureaucracy to function as an end rather than a means.
The project concerns how this logic becomes internalized. From education onward, individuals learn how to behave within systems of evaluation: how to demonstrate discipline, participation, productivity, and correctness in ways that can be easily recognized by those in authority. Repeated over time, these behaviors become habitual, shaping the way people understand institutions and their own roles within them.
These dynamics also sit within broader histories of political uncertainty, hierarchy, and the erosion of social trust in China. In environments where responsibility carries risk and trust is limited, following procedures and displaying correct behavior can become forms of self-protection. Formalism is therefore not simply inefficiency or absurdity, but also a survival strategy produced by the systems in which people operate.
Ultimately, A Greater Enemy of Truth Than Lies* examines how systems of power become embedded in everyday behavior, and how repeated performances of compliance can gradually replace trust, individual responsibility, and meaningful action.
Anastasia
ANNA DOLGINOVA
Moscow, Russia
I love exploring the tension between intimacy and anonymity, the distance between myself and the person or object in the frame. I believe life exists somewhere before or after “the perfect moment”: before someone you love turns around and you see their smile, or after they’ve left but you still feel their presence in the air.
Moscow, Russia
I love exploring the tension between intimacy and anonymity, the distance between myself and the person or object in the frame. I believe life exists somewhere before or after “the perfect moment”: before someone you love turns around and you see their smile, or after they’ve left but you still feel their presence in the air.
Bound/Unbound
RHIANNA GALLAGHER
Mendocino, CA
Rhianna Gallagher is a West Coast artist and art educator who specializes in antique photographic processes. Her work is a celebration of the physical and the ephemeral. She is particularly interested in photography as a visionary medium, utilizing the alchemy of light and the agency of vision. She holds an MFA from San Jose State University and has shown both in Northern California and Europe.
Mendocino, CA
Rhianna Gallagher is a West Coast artist and art educator who specializes in antique photographic processes. Her work is a celebration of the physical and the ephemeral. She is particularly interested in photography as a visionary medium, utilizing the alchemy of light and the agency of vision. She holds an MFA from San Jose State University and has shown both in Northern California and Europe.
aver.red
VALENTINE AVERYANOVA
Belgorod, Russia
My photo project is called "Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter — and Spring Again.
" I don't title individual
photographs; I simply sign them with my artist's nickname.
Belgorod, Russia
My photo project is called "Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter — and Spring Again.
" I don't title individual
photographs; I simply sign them with my artist's nickname.
Muro Amarillo y Edificio
ROB WHITCOMB
Ithaca, NY
The photographs for this submission were made in Mexico, influenced by the formal clarity and psychological resonance of Paul Strand’s 1930’s Mexican Portfolio.
Ithaca, NY
The photographs for this submission were made in Mexico, influenced by the formal clarity and psychological resonance of Paul Strand’s 1930’s Mexican Portfolio.
Untitled
CHRISTINA YAO
Zhaoqing, China
“Near or Far" is an ongoing series of photographic portraits that explore the continuous
negotiation of power, trust, and vulnerability within intimate relationships.
I’m captivated by the complexity and unpredictability of human connection. I create staged photographs of my friends in their private spaces, drawing from their personal stories and fragments of their relationships to construct fictionalized narratives. At the same time, I project my own doubts and the barriers I experience in relationships onto these situations.
Zhaoqing, China
“Near or Far" is an ongoing series of photographic portraits that explore the continuous
negotiation of power, trust, and vulnerability within intimate relationships.
I’m captivated by the complexity and unpredictability of human connection. I create staged photographs of my friends in their private spaces, drawing from their personal stories and fragments of their relationships to construct fictionalized narratives. At the same time, I project my own doubts and the barriers I experience in relationships onto these situations.
untitled 6
FRANTIŠEK BÍNA & ELOISA ALCARAZ
Czech Republic & Mexico
Utilizing diptych and triptych configurations, Bína and Alcaraz approach the photographic medium as an inherently tactile and phenomenological tool. Their methodology eschews literal documentation in favor of a poetic "inhabitation" of the world. This partnership represents a convergence of two rigorous, yet disparate, artistic trajectories: Alcaraz contributes a formalist, experimental framework informed by her studies in Fibres and Material Practices and classical darkroom chemistry, while Bína employs "subjective documentation" to externalize an interior psychological landscape onto the physical plane. Through a shared investigation of light and materiality, the duo seeks to transmute the mundane into the existential.
Their collaborative sequences have been featured in international journals such as Inspired Eye and presented in solo exhibitions in Czech Republic, most notably The Souls Reunion. By juxtaposing divergent fragments of reality, they prompt the viewer to navigate the "ellipsis" between frames, fostering a silent, cinematic narrative that privileges sensory immersion over mimetic representation.
Czech Republic & Mexico
Utilizing diptych and triptych configurations, Bína and Alcaraz approach the photographic medium as an inherently tactile and phenomenological tool. Their methodology eschews literal documentation in favor of a poetic "inhabitation" of the world. This partnership represents a convergence of two rigorous, yet disparate, artistic trajectories: Alcaraz contributes a formalist, experimental framework informed by her studies in Fibres and Material Practices and classical darkroom chemistry, while Bína employs "subjective documentation" to externalize an interior psychological landscape onto the physical plane. Through a shared investigation of light and materiality, the duo seeks to transmute the mundane into the existential.
Their collaborative sequences have been featured in international journals such as Inspired Eye and presented in solo exhibitions in Czech Republic, most notably The Souls Reunion. By juxtaposing divergent fragments of reality, they prompt the viewer to navigate the "ellipsis" between frames, fostering a silent, cinematic narrative that privileges sensory immersion over mimetic representation.
Robert and Brownie
PAT DOYEN
Riverdale, MD
In this series, I use the framework of spirit photography to investigate the emotional weight of our physical presence as captured by media. Early spirit photography was both a grift, and a genuine search for comfort in technology’s ability to “see” what we couldn’t. I seek to visualize the traces of intent behind the image, revealing how media functions as a tool for haunting our collective consciousness.
Riverdale, MD
In this series, I use the framework of spirit photography to investigate the emotional weight of our physical presence as captured by media. Early spirit photography was both a grift, and a genuine search for comfort in technology’s ability to “see” what we couldn’t. I seek to visualize the traces of intent behind the image, revealing how media functions as a tool for haunting our collective consciousness.
Sumo
JEANNE MARINO
Pacific Grove, CA
First morning in Japan and what did we attend? A Sumo Wrestling practice session! I thought, no way is this going to be good. Fooled me! Capturing this image was an unexpected treat
Exploring. I love exploring and dreaming up stories that go along with what I find, what I see. Photographing is a way of story telling for me, whether with one image or a series. And traveling to other countries, states or cities makes the explorations all the more exciting. I feel fortunate to have been to
places that most of the people in my life's circles have never been to. Sharing the experiences and photographs is terrific. There is something profoundly beautiful about opening up my world and letting someone else step inside it, while stepping into theirs.
Pacific Grove, CA
First morning in Japan and what did we attend? A Sumo Wrestling practice session! I thought, no way is this going to be good. Fooled me! Capturing this image was an unexpected treat
Exploring. I love exploring and dreaming up stories that go along with what I find, what I see. Photographing is a way of story telling for me, whether with one image or a series. And traveling to other countries, states or cities makes the explorations all the more exciting. I feel fortunate to have been to
places that most of the people in my life's circles have never been to. Sharing the experiences and photographs is terrific. There is something profoundly beautiful about opening up my world and letting someone else step inside it, while stepping into theirs.
Time's Up
BEAMIE YOUNG
Dickerson, MD
Through surreal imagery, these works transform grief into hope, reflecting remembrance, compassion, and the belief that love endures beyond life’s final moments.
Dickerson, MD
Through surreal imagery, these works transform grief into hope, reflecting remembrance, compassion, and the belief that love endures beyond life’s final moments.
Imperfect Memories 5
MARNA BELL
Syracuse, NY
Bell's work centers around nostalgia and reclaiming memories through parallels of light and shadow. Her images represent semi-fictionalized narratives, taking form between what's real and what's imagined. Bell was raised in Brooklyn, NY, she returns here both physically and figuratively throughout her career. In this fantasy world of the past, she finds excitement and escape.
Syracuse, NY
Bell's work centers around nostalgia and reclaiming memories through parallels of light and shadow. Her images represent semi-fictionalized narratives, taking form between what's real and what's imagined. Bell was raised in Brooklyn, NY, she returns here both physically and figuratively throughout her career. In this fantasy world of the past, she finds excitement and escape.
Sliver
DANNY CARDENAS
Sacramento, CA
I was shooting by the ocean in a rental and my friend was laying down facing the doorway that faced the ocean, as the sun was setting a sliver of light through the door illuminated a small part of his face and body and I immediately saw a photo
Sacramento, CA
I was shooting by the ocean in a rental and my friend was laying down facing the doorway that faced the ocean, as the sun was setting a sliver of light through the door illuminated a small part of his face and body and I immediately saw a photo
American Dream
YU CHEN CHIU
Taipei, Taiwan
The photographs submitted are from my series Inside Out. The project began from my experience of living between Taiwan and New York, where familiar ways of seeing gradually gave way to a more fluid and uncertain sense of place. Made over several years on the streets of New York, the series explores the unstable boundary between what is visible and what remains just beyond perception.
Taipei, Taiwan
The photographs submitted are from my series Inside Out. The project began from my experience of living between Taiwan and New York, where familiar ways of seeing gradually gave way to a more fluid and uncertain sense of place. Made over several years on the streets of New York, the series explores the unstable boundary between what is visible and what remains just beyond perception.
Suspended Condition
JINGYIN CHE
Bloomington, IN
Harmless: To Be Proven is a staged photographic project about Chinese and Chinese American scholars moving through American academic spaces with care, restraint, and quiet uncertainty. Through institutional interiors, restrained gestures, and ambiguous objects, the work considers how pressure can enter daily life without being fully named.
Bloomington, IN
Harmless: To Be Proven is a staged photographic project about Chinese and Chinese American scholars moving through American academic spaces with care, restraint, and quiet uncertainty. Through institutional interiors, restrained gestures, and ambiguous objects, the work considers how pressure can enter daily life without being fully named.
Cancer or Rust Belt, Teeth
GULSEN GOKSEL
Commerce City, CO
For businesses that they thought did science, moreover, they do it for human beings; Among the questions asked, I'm curious about your definition of geographic degeneration. When will you question the toxic mud that has been smeared on your feet by organizations that neglect the ethical side
of science and commodify living concepts like humans and nature with inanimate findings, failing to recognize that they serve money rather than science?
Al Gore says, “Making mistakes in our dealings with nature can have bigger consequences now because our technologies are often bigger than the human scale.
I’m behind the refinery’s tallest duct; it's almost dark. I set up my wide-angle pinhole camera for a 4-and-a-half-minute recording of my standing posture in a white, solid gown. As I created this frame as if on the black-and-white film, I agreed that my pinhole camera makes of reality and what the human eye sees.
(Arnheim 1932)
Commerce City, CO
For businesses that they thought did science, moreover, they do it for human beings; Among the questions asked, I'm curious about your definition of geographic degeneration. When will you question the toxic mud that has been smeared on your feet by organizations that neglect the ethical side
of science and commodify living concepts like humans and nature with inanimate findings, failing to recognize that they serve money rather than science?
Al Gore says, “Making mistakes in our dealings with nature can have bigger consequences now because our technologies are often bigger than the human scale.
I’m behind the refinery’s tallest duct; it's almost dark. I set up my wide-angle pinhole camera for a 4-and-a-half-minute recording of my standing posture in a white, solid gown. As I created this frame as if on the black-and-white film, I agreed that my pinhole camera makes of reality and what the human eye sees.
(Arnheim 1932)
The Seventh Year #3
SUSAN ISAACSON
Glencoe, IL
According to Jewish tradition, every seventh year marks a sabbatical for the land. It is a time of rest, renewal and regeneration for the earth. Farmers are instructed to leave their fields fallow, celebrate and surrender to what nature yields. Awareness of this ancient practice inspired me to consider my own
relationship to the land.
Through landscape and self-portraiture, I explore my belief that all living things are connected and humans are not separate from the natural world we inhabit. The notion of oneness provides comfort as I recognize the fragility and transience of life and grapple with mortality. At the same time, it allows me to appreciate
and revere a world much greater than myself, creating a sense of wholeness.
“. . . freshly picked sweetgrass, loose and flowing like newly washed hair . . . breathe it in and you start to
remember things you didn’t know you’d forgotten.”
~ Robin Wall Kimmerer
Glencoe, IL
According to Jewish tradition, every seventh year marks a sabbatical for the land. It is a time of rest, renewal and regeneration for the earth. Farmers are instructed to leave their fields fallow, celebrate and surrender to what nature yields. Awareness of this ancient practice inspired me to consider my own
relationship to the land.
Through landscape and self-portraiture, I explore my belief that all living things are connected and humans are not separate from the natural world we inhabit. The notion of oneness provides comfort as I recognize the fragility and transience of life and grapple with mortality. At the same time, it allows me to appreciate
and revere a world much greater than myself, creating a sense of wholeness.
“. . . freshly picked sweetgrass, loose and flowing like newly washed hair . . . breathe it in and you start to
remember things you didn’t know you’d forgotten.”
~ Robin Wall Kimmerer
Nap
LESLIE WILSON
Santa Monica, CA
In the stillness of late afternoon, a dog sleeps beneath the shadow of a cypress tree. Behind it, the weathered church wall bears the ghostly traces of a long-forgotten fire, as though the building itself remembers what can no longer be seen.
I explore the space between what is seen and what is understood. Working across photography, installation, architecture, and mixed media, I use language, symbols, and the built environment as materials that reveal and conceal meaning simultaneously. My photographs often begin as observations of ordinary places or objects, but they invite viewers to question what lies beneath the surface-memories embedded in a place, histories carried by materials, or conversations that remain incomplete. Rather than providing answers, I create images that leave room for interpretation, where absence can be as powerful as presence and what is unseen becomes an active participant in the work. I hope each photograph slows the viewer down long enough to discover that meaning is not fixed, but assembled through their own experience.
Santa Monica, CA
In the stillness of late afternoon, a dog sleeps beneath the shadow of a cypress tree. Behind it, the weathered church wall bears the ghostly traces of a long-forgotten fire, as though the building itself remembers what can no longer be seen.
I explore the space between what is seen and what is understood. Working across photography, installation, architecture, and mixed media, I use language, symbols, and the built environment as materials that reveal and conceal meaning simultaneously. My photographs often begin as observations of ordinary places or objects, but they invite viewers to question what lies beneath the surface-memories embedded in a place, histories carried by materials, or conversations that remain incomplete. Rather than providing answers, I create images that leave room for interpretation, where absence can be as powerful as presence and what is unseen becomes an active participant in the work. I hope each photograph slows the viewer down long enough to discover that meaning is not fixed, but assembled through their own experience.
Stack
NICK PERRY
New Smyrna Beach, FL
In his current work, Perry serves as both subject and director, constructing psychologically charged tableaux that explore fear as a learned behavior.
Through the use of feline prosthetics and a recurring alter ego modeled after his own timid cat, he examines vulnerability, self-consciousness, and the tension between instinct and inhibition.
New Smyrna Beach, FL
In his current work, Perry serves as both subject and director, constructing psychologically charged tableaux that explore fear as a learned behavior.
Through the use of feline prosthetics and a recurring alter ego modeled after his own timid cat, he examines vulnerability, self-consciousness, and the tension between instinct and inhibition.
bottom of page