The FotoFocus Symposium is designed to bring together Participants to discuss the backstories theme and its relationship to lens-based art and the world today. These conversations foster timely and in-depth dialogue around art in the current social and political climate.

12pm Light Bites

1pm Memory Fields Conversation
Sso-Rha Kang, Curator of Memory Fields, Curator at The Carnegie, Cincinnati, OH and Artist Jesse Ly, Dayton, OH

1:30pm Chip Thomas and the Painted Desert Project Panel
Moderated by Kevin Moore, FotoFocus Artistic Director and Curator, New York, NY; with panelists Chip Thomas, Artist, Flagstaff, AZ; Ken Ogawa, Maker/Artist, Columbia, MO; and Sunny Dooley, Diné Hozhojii Teller, Creator, and Poet, Diné Nation, NM

2:30pm Southern Democratic Spotlight with Filmmaker Michael Almereyda, New York, NY

3pm Ming Smith Conversation
Ming Smith, Artist, Harlem, NY and Daisy Desrosiers, David and Francie Horvitz Family Foundation Director and Chief Curator at The Gund, Kenyon College, Mount Vernon, OH

4pm backstories Keynote Lecture
Kathy Ryan, former Director of Photography at The New York Times Magazine, New York, NY

Additional Information: FotoFocus strives to create a welcoming, supportive, diverse, and inclusive environment in our workplace, in our programming, and in our partnerships with artists, curators, collaborators, and the public. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) will be available at the Biennial Symposium, sponsored by Ohio Humanities. For questions regarding accessibility accommodations during FotoFocus events, please email info@fotofocus.org.

Access to the 2024 FotoFocus Biennial Program is a benefit of being a FotoFocus Biennial Passport holder. GET THE PASSPORT for free entry and exclusive events!