FotoFocus Biennial returns this week with photo exhibits all over Cincinnati
When you think about it, we interact with photography in some way nearly every day. Whether it's idly scrolling through Instagram, snapping shots of your pets and kids, or even swiping left and right on dating apps, we are engaging with images. The FotoFocus Biennial takes that engagement to a new level. It's a celebration of photography and lens-based art – the largest event of its kind in America – featuring over 100 projects and more than 600 artists, curators and participants.
Each FotoFocus Biennial is structured around a unifying theme. This time around, the theme is "World Record," which challenges artists to consider the record of life on Earth, humankind's impact on the natural world and the choices we face as a global community. The core program runs Sept. 29 through Oct. 8, but the celebration continues through the end of the month. Some events require registration for the free FotoFocus Passport, which you can find at fotofocus.org, but here's a look at the main FotoFocus Biennial events taking place around the city, which are free to attend, as well.
Get the picture?:If you're into photography, this is Cincinnati's biggest event of the year
Check out the renderings:FotoFocus to build home 'from scratch' in heart of Cincinnati 📸
Annex Gallery
Where: 1310 Pendleton St., Pendleton.
What: All Falls Down: Architectural Heritage Effaced. Exhibition features photographs by Lebanese artist Gregory Buchakjian and Cincinnati artist William Howes. Both have passionately documented abandoned, neglected and destroyed architectural buildings in their respective cities.
What: Raul Canibano: Cuba Real.
When: Opening reception 5-8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29. Closing reception 5-9 p.m. Oct. 28.
Archive of Creative Culture
Where: 2930 Sidney Ave., Camp Washington.
What: Norman Kattelman Archive Project. Sifting through the estate of Norman Kattelman, this exhibition reveals his world, history and unpacks his legacy as a resident of Millionaires Row on Dayton Street.
When: Opening reception and discussions noon-4 p.m. Oct. 8. Runs Oct. 8-Oct. 16.
Art Academy of Cincinnati Annex
Where: 1211 Jackson St., Over-the-Rhine.
What: Ian Strange: Annex. Site-specific installation that offers further dimension on artist's long standing engagement with ideas of home and domestic disturbance.
When: Opening reception and street party 6-10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1. Runs Oct. 1-Dec. 9.
Art Academy of Cincinnati McClure Gallery
Where: 1212 Jackson St., Over-the-Rhine.
What: Circum-Verdant. Women's photographic collective PhotograpHERS imagine a world with a dramatically different relationship between "man" and the environment.
When: Opening reception 5-8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30. Runs Sept. 30-Oct. 28.
Art Academy of Cincinnati Pearlman Gallery
Where: 1212 Jackson St., Over-the-Rhine.
What: I Don't Know How to Love You: The Relationship Between Humans and Nature. Artists challenge the construction of narratives around this relationship.
When: Opening reception 5-8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30. Runs Sept. 30-Oct. 28.
Art Academy of Cincinnati Site 1212
Where: 1212 Jackson St., Over-the-Rhine.
What: Ian Strange: Disturbed Home. Works highlight the effects of environmental and economic conditions on homes in the region.
When: Opening reception 6-10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1. Runs Oct. 1-Dec. 9.
Art Beyond Boundaries
Where: 1410 Main St., Over-the-Rhine.
What: Back to Abnormal. Group exhibition of photographs that express artistic perceptions of the impact attributed to the 2020 pandemic.
When: Artist talk 2-3 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29. Runs Sept. 9-Nov. 4.
ArtWorks
Where: 791 E. McMillan St., Walnut Hills.
What: Perspectives. Photo-based mixed medial mural celebrating Black iconography, culture, expression and joy.
When: Opening reception and mural dedication 4-7 p.m. Oct. 17.
ArtWorks V2 Gallery
Where: 929 E. McMillan St., Walnut Hills.
What: As We Bloom. Eight students created collection of new works.
What: Gallery opening and mural dedication 4-7 p.m. Oct. 17.
Baker Hunt Art and Cultural Center
Where: 620 Greenup St., Covington.
What: Ryan Hill: A Thousand Words. Features images documenting land development sites, art and music festivals, and consumerism.
When: Opening reception 5:30-8:30 p.m. Oct. 7. Closing reception 5:30-8:30 p.m. Oct. 21.
BasketShop
Where: 3105 Harrison Ave., Westwood.
What: Diego Leclery: One With Everything. Artist attempts to take on every conceivable art practice in a year's time.
When: Opening reception 6-9 p.m. Oct. 8. Closing reception 1-6 p.m. Nov. 26.
Behringer-Crawford Museum at Devou Park
Where: 1600 Montague Road, Covington.
What: Faces of the Deep. For over 15 years, John and Martha Lange have been documenting marine life from around the world.
When: Reception and meet artists 2-4 p.m. Oct. 15. Runs Sept. 30-Oct. 30.
CampSite Sculpture Park
Where: 2866 Colerain Ave., Camp Washington.
What: Liz Roberts: Post Blonde. New site-specific commission references the resurgence of drive-ins during the pandemic and the collective viewing experience of movie screenings.
When: Artist talk and reception 7-9 p.m. Oct. 8. Runs Sept. 29-Oct. 31.
The Carnegie
Where: 1028 Scott St., Covington.
What: These Things Are Connected. Five curators selected and developed projects based on linking artists across different geographies.
When: Panel discussion 3:30-5 p.m., opening reception 5-7 p.m. Oct. 8. Runs Oct. 1-Jan. 28.
Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library, Main Library
Where: 800 Vine St., Downtown.
What: City Under Exposure. Explores impact of our historical visual archives on understanding collective moments.
When: Opening reception and panel discussion 5:30-8 p.m. Oct. 4. Runs Oct. 1-Dec. 31.
Cincinnati Art Museum
Where: 953 Eden Park Drive, Mount Adams.
What: Natural World. Photography-based exhibition explores and expands ideas of the natural order.
When: Runs Sept. 30-Jan. 15.
Clay Street Press Gallery
Where: 1312 Clay St., Over-the-Rhine
What: It Is What It Is (Subject to Change). Five artists explore the mutability of video.
When: Opening reception 6-9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30. Closing reception 7:30-8:30 p.m. Oct. 28.
Clifton Cultural Arts Center
Where: 2728 Short Vine St., Corryville.
What: Logan Hicks: Still New York. Internationally exhibited artist investigates the visual impact of pandemic lockdowns in New York City.
When: Opening reception 6-8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30. Runs Sept. 30-Oct. 21.
Contemporary Arts Center
Where: 44 E. Sixth St., Downtown
Opening Celebration for 2022 FotoFocus Biennial
Baseera Khan: Weight on History. First institutional solo exhibition in Midwest by New York-based artist. Features a new body of sculptures, existing photographic collages, video and other work, as well as a site-specific installation.
Images on which to build, 1970-90. Photographic documentation of activism, education and media production within trans, queer and feminist grassroots organizing from the 1970s through the 1990s.
On the Line: Documents of Risk and Faith. Group exhibition of artists working primarily in photography, video and performance.
Cameron Granger: The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Heaven. Ohio-based artist and filmmaker develops a new iteration of The Line for the CAC lobby that draws from his personal biography as a Black man raised by his mother and grandmother in Ohio.
When: Opening reception and performance for all exhibitions 8 p.m.-midnight Friday. Exhibits run Sept. 30-Feb. 11.
DAAP Galleries, Meyers Gallery at Steger Student Life Center
Where: UC Main St., CUF.
What: Paul Briol: Passed Forward, Selections from the UC Art Collection. Selection of works by noted journalist and photographer.
When: Opening reception 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6. Runs Sept. 11-Nov. 20.
DAAP Galleries: Reed Gallery
Where: 5th floor, 346 Clifton Ct., CUF.
What: New Tides. Highlights works concerned with the ebb and flow of social, political and artistic trends, and how they can return with differing focus and intensity.
When: Opening reception 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6. Runs Sept. 1-Oct. 31.
Eisele Gallery
Where: 6936 Madisonville Road, Mariemont.
What: Natural Encounters. Exhibition of photography from renowned photographers Christina Mittermeier and Paul Nicklen.
When: Reception and talk 5-9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8. Runs Oct. 2-Oct. 16.
Evendale Cultural Arts Center
Where: 10500 Reading Road, Evendale
What: The World Around Them. Annual juried exhibition of 75 photographs of professional and amateur photographers capturing the world around them.
When: Opening reception 1-4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 2. Runs Oct. 2-Nov.1.
Fitton Center for Creative Arts
Where: 101 S. Monument Ave., Hamilton.
What: Acknowledge Reveal Disclose. Portrait photographs made by individuals across the region.
The Land and That Which Lives on It: Contemporary Photography and the Curious Nature of Our Planet.
Unusual Characters: Portraits and the Modern Eye. Five modern photographers whose portraits are atypical, uncomfortable and yet inexplicably attractive.
When: Opening reception and artist talk with Kent Krugh 5:30-7:30 p.m. Oct. 22. Closing reception 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Nov. 19.
Flag Studio
Where: 2922 Colerain Ave., Camp Washington.
What: Collecting and Receiving. Works of Mohammed Kazem and Christiana de Marchi.
When: Reception and gallery talk 6-7 p.m. Oct. 7. Runs Oct. 1-Oct. 31.
Haehnle Gallery at St. John's Unitarian Universalist Church
Where: 320 Resor Ave., Clifton.
What: Recording Hope: Images from "Flashes of Hope" Photographers. Five local photographers document children who are battling cancer and related illnesses.
When: Opening reception 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 9. Runs Oct. 9-Nov. 13.
Hoffner Lodge Gallery
Where: 4120 Hamilton Ave., Northside.
What: Local History: Historic Photographs of Extreme Cincinnati Weather. Images focus on 1937 flood in Cincinnati.
When: 7-9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8. Runs Oct. 6-Nov. 7.
Iris BookCafe and Gallery
Where: 1331 Main St., Over-the-Rhine
What: PhotOH2: Other Photographers from the Heartland. Group exhibition from photographers based throughout Ohio and Northern Kentucky.
When: Opening reception 6-9 p.m. Friday. Sept. 30. Runs Sept. 30-Dec. 31.
Kennedy Heights Art Center
Where: 6546 Montgomery Road, Kennedy Heights
What: What's Left Behind. Examines the effects of consumption, collection, and what is discarded.
When: Curator and artist talk noon-2 p.m. Oct. 8. Runs Sept. 24-Nov. 12.
Lloyd Library & Museum
Where: 917 Plum St., Downtown
What: Visions of Nature Across Time and Place. Features historical and contemporary photographs of people's relationship with nature, near and far.
When: Opening reception 5-8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30. Runs Sept. 30-Nov. 19.
Main Street Shop & Studio
Where: 1342 Main St., Over-the-Rhine
What: Caroline Bell & Elisa Fay: When the World Ends, I Want to Be in Cincinnati. Photographers wrestle with the question, "If Cincinnati is indeed 20 years behind the times, what does the rest of the country look like?"
When: Opening reception and artist talks 6-10 p.m. Friday. Sept. 30. Closing reception 6-10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 28.
Manifest Creative Research Gallery
Where: 2727 Woodburn Ave., Walnut Hills
What: The Overstory. Explores trees and the notion of time as recorded through them.
When: Opening reception 6-9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30. Runs Sept. 30-Oct. 28.
Manifest Drawing Center
Where: 3464 Central Parkway, Clifton.
What: Yonder. Chronicles the many ways horizons determine and evolve our understanding of the world.
When: Opening reception 6-8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7. Runs Oct. 8-Oct. 23.
Mercantile Library
Where: 414 Walnut St., Downtown
What: James Presley Ball: Black Daguerreotypist in 19th Century Cincinnati.
When: Opening reception and talk 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29. Runs Sept. 29-Oct. 31.
Miami University Art Museum
Where: 801 S. Patterson Ave., Oxford.
What: Lens for Freedom: Civil Rights Photographs by Steve Schapiro.
PhotOH: Photographers in the Heartland. Photographers across Ohio participate.
When: Reception 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 12. Runs Aug. 23-Dec. 10.
Michael Lowe Gallery
Where: 905 Vine St., Downtown.
What: Tony Oursler: Crossing Neptune. Features archival works on the theme of water.
When: Opening reception 5-7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30. Runs Sept. 29-Oct. 31.
Miller Gallery
Where: 2715 Erie Ave.
What: Isaac Wright: On Top of the World. Honorably retired Army special operations veteran captures the world from never-before-seen perspectives.
When: Opening reception and artist talk 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6. Runs Oct. 6-Nov.12.
The backstory:Cincinnati photographer got great views of cities, not-so-great views of justice system
Mohawk Gallery at Robin Imaging
Where: 2106 Central Parkway,
What: Glacial Melt before Our Very Eyes. Four local photographers present various images of glaciers, each of whom has witnessed the changing and varied glacial landscape over the past 30 years.
When: Reception 5:30-8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 28. Runs Sept. 24-Dec. 3.
Mount St. Joseph University Studio San Giuseppe Art Gallery
Where: 5701 Delhi Road, Delhi Township.
What: Eroded Histories: Photographs by Ruth Adams and Deborah Orloff. Artists draw upon their cultural heritage and family history to investigate memory within the context of forced migration and persecution of their ancestors.
What: The Snapshot: A Mount Community Response. Photographers consider their sense of place within the context of the composition.
When: Reception and artist talk 2-3 p.m. and 3-3:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8. Runs Sept. 26-Oct. 28.
Northern Kentucky University School of the Arts Galleries
Where: Fine Arts Center, Nunn Drive, Highland Heights.
What: This is Kentucky: Past, Present, Future. Work that documents, examines and explores the people and places of Kentucky.
When: Closing reception 5-7 p.m. Nov. 3.
Off Ludlow Gallery
Where: 3408 Ormond Ave.,
What: Strangers in a Strange Land: Photographs of American Visionary Artists and Eccentrics. Presents a diverse group of visionary artists and eccentrics who collectively represent a vanishing fragment within American culture.
When: Opening reception 2-6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8. Runs Oct. 8-Nov. 5.
PAR-Projects Gallery
Where: 1646 Hoffner St., Northside.
What: Billy Colbert: Lessons are Learned. Video collages that tell the stories of the everyday Black American.
Susan Ferrari Rowley: Alterations in Dystopia (Studio Views).
When: Opening reception 7-10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8. Runs Sept. 27-March 31.
Rainbow
Where: 4573 Hamilton Ave., Northside.
What: Jesse Byerly: Portals. Photo and light-based installation that seeks to reorient one’s experience of the world.
When: Opening reception 6-8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8. Runs Oct. 8-Nov. 12.
Ruth's Parkside Cafe
Where: 1500 Blue Rock St., Northside.
What: Jason Sheldon: Forward! Series of extremely photoshopped postcards, vacation photos, magazine covers and more.
When: Aug. 29-Oct. 30.
Skirball Museum
Where: 3101 Clifton Ave.,
What: Jewish Cincinnati: A Photographic Record by J. Miles Wolf. Photographs of former places of Jewish businesses.
When: Opening reception and artist talk 5:30-8 p.m. Oct. 27. Closing reception 1-4 p.m. Jan. 29.
Somerset
Where: 139 E. McMicken Ave., Over-the-Rhine.
What: Recording Cincinnati: The Queen City in the Eyes of Alice Cusson. Photos document Cincinnati landmarks, including the Terrace Plaza, the Hotel Alms, St. Francis DeSales Church, Memorial Hall, Ivorydale and the United States Playing Card Company.
When: Opening reception 6-8 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 2. Runs Sept. 30-Nov. 1.
Stair House
Where: 1368 Avon Place, Camp Washington.
What: Mature. Images that capture the passage of time.
When: Opening reception 6-9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8. Runs Oct. 7-Oct. 30.
Studio Kroner
Where: 130 W. Court St., Downtown.
What: Matthew Zory: Bodies of Sand, Desert Rhythms. Explores the play of light, shape and movement in Death Valley.
When: Opening reception 2-5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8. Closing reception 2-5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29.
Summit Hotel
Where: 5345 Medpace Way,
What: Better Close Than Never. Work is presented as a fictional “record” of natural space, reduced to a slick and seductive surface.
When: Artist talk, reception and performance 5-8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21. Runs Oct. 8-Dec. 31.
Taft Museum of Art
Where: 316 Pike St., Downtown
What: Craft and Camera: the Art of Nancy Ford Cones. First major presentation of work by internationally renowned photographer from Loveland who created photographs during a time female artists struggled for recognition. This body of work features imaginative subjects, like fairy tales and literary scenes, brought to life. Most photos were taken between 1900-1939. taftmuseum.org.
When: Free admission every Sunday. Runs Oct. 1-Jan. 15.
Thomas More University, Eva G. Farris Gallery
Where: 333 Thomas More Parkway, Crestview Hills.
What: The Homeplace: Photographs from Historic African American Hamlets in Kentucky's Inner Bluegrass Region. Kentucky-based documentary photographer focuses on African American settlements that sprang up around horse farms after the Civil War.
When: Opening reception with photographer Sarah Hoskins 4-7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13. Runs Oct. 13-Nov. 3.
UC Clermont College Art Gallery
Where: 4200 Clermont College Drive, Batavia.
What: Virginia Kistler: Illuminated Landscapes. Artist's process includes using two-dimensional imagery and photography in the creation of her sculptural works.
When: Opening reception 12:30-1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18. Runs Sept. 19-Dec. 15.
Visionaries and Voices
Where: 3801 Spring Grove Ave., Northside
What: Makateewa Dreamscape. Exhibition highlights artists who honor the past as well as artists with new visions around the Mill Creek Valley’s community, representation, and balance with nature.
When: Opening reception and walking tour with creek performance 6-8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7. Runs Oct. 7-Nov. 23.
Wash Park Art Gallery
Where: 1215 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine
What: Tina Gutierrez and Larry Brown: Phantasmagoria: The Fictitious Truth of 1666 Bruce St. Gutierrez decomposes the photographic record found at 1666 Bruce Ave. into digital renditions presented through unexpected media. Brown resurrects a narrative about the inhabitants of that recorded world.
Guennadi Maslov: Ukraina Resurgent. Exhibit is a record of Ukraine, photos and text from Maslov’s current photobook project.
When: Opening reception 5-8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30. Closing reception 5-8 p.m. Nov. 12.
Wave Pool Gallery
Where: 2940 Colerain Ave., Camp Washington
What: Photography & Tenderness. Exhibition demonstrates how photographers use tenderness as a radical tool to confront the racist and colonial gaze of photography.
When: Curator talk 7 p.m. Oct. 5. Runs Sept. 24-Nov. 5.
Weston Art Gallery
Where: 650 Walnut St., Downtown
What: Michael Coppage: American+. Explores the negative archetypes and stark racial disparities still operating in the psychology of contemporary American culture.
When: Gallery talk 7 p.m. Tuesday. Runs Sept. 16-Nov. 6.
Xavier University Art Gallery, A.B. Cohen Center
Where: 1658 Musketeer Drive, Evanston
What: Searching for Life: Re-growth & Display. Ongoing photographic and cinematic experience creates and examines the personal, transcending reflections of dedications to the recollection of the female human existence.
When: Opening reception 6:30-8:30 p.m. Oct. 7. Runs Oct. 1-Oct. 28.
Xavier University Art Gallery, Gallagher Student Center
Where: 3800 Victory Parkway, Evanston.
What: P.J. Sturdevant: A Record of Disuse. collection of photographic prints featuring objects that were once functional. Now worn, discarded and even unrecognizable, the viewer may imagine what the original function could have been.
When: Artist talk 2-3 p.m. Oct. 26. Runs Oct.1-Dec. 10.
21C Museum Hotel
Where: 609 Walnut St., Downtown.
What: Refuge: Needing, Seeking, Creating Shelter. 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.
When: Public tours 6-7 p.m. Fridays through October. Runs Aug. 26-June 4.
3CDC
Where: 1203 Walnut St., Over-the-Rhine.
What: J. Miles Wolf: Hometown Heroes. Public art display featuring Cincinnatians who made an impact on the city.
When: Walking tour 3-5 p.m. Oct. 14. Runs Sept. 30-Oct. 30.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati's big photography event, FotoFocus Biennial, returns
