FotoFest presents Biennial 2022 artists and themes

September 24–November 6, 2022

Grand opening: September 24, 8–11pm
Silver Street Studios and Winter Street Studios

FotoFest announces participating artists of the upcoming FotoFest Biennial 2022 central exhibitions If I Had a Hammer, African Cosmologies: Redux, and Ten by Ten, on view between September 24 and November 6, 2022 in Houston at Sawyer Yards in Arts District Houston.

If I Had a Hammer, the centerpiece of the FotoFest Biennial 2022, examines how artists employ photographs to probe the construction of historical narratives, political ideology, and agency. If I Had a Hammer presents a diverse group of image-makers, including photo-documentarians, activists, research-based artists and collectives, filmmakers, performance artists, and artists engaged in social practice, who question the role of images in the construction, depiction, reception, and repression of political ideologies and global social movements.

Steven Evans, Max Fields, and Amy Sadao are the co-curators and organizers of the exhibition, with Julie Ault, Nora N. Khan, and Jeanne Vaccaro providing curatorial advisory support.

The artists and collectives featured in the FotoFest Biennial 2022 central exhibition If I Had a Hammer include
Laura Aguilar, Mónica Alcázar-Duarte, Chow and Lin, Forensic Architecture, Elaine W. Ho, Ho Rui An, Jibade-Khalil Huffman, David Kelley, Yazan Khalili, Ryan Patrick Krueger, Dorothea Lange, Dionne Lee, Toyo Miyatake, Delilah Montoya, Reynier Leyva Novo, Lorraine O’Grady, Mike Osborne, Liz Rodda, Keisha Scarville, Ines Schaber, Fred Schmidt-Arenales (in collaboration with David Ramírez Cotón, Daniel Hernández-Salazar, Camilla Juárez, and Jorge de León), Jonathan David Smyth, and Bruce Yonemoto.

FotoFest also announces the artists featured in the exhibitions African Cosmologies: Redux and Ten by Ten: Ten Portfolios from the Meeting Place 2020–21.

African Cosmologies: Redux is a large group exhibition that explores the complex connections between contemporary life in Africa, the African diaspora, and global histories of colonialism, photography, rights, and representation. It is curated by Mark Sealy, Director of the renowned London-based photographic art institution Autograph ABP. The exhibition emphasizes artists that confront and dispute this canonized heritage, viewing photography’s past as being strongly related to a colonial enterprise and Western image production.

The artists featured in the exhibition African Cosmologies: Redux include
Faisal Abdu’Allah, Akinbode Akinbiyi, Hélène A. Amouzou, Sammy Baloji, James Barnor, Bruno Boudjelal, Edson Chagas, Ernest Cole, Jamal Cyrus, Jean Depara, Laura El-Tantawy, Samuel Fosso, Rahima Gambo, Eric Gyamfi, Lyle Ashton Harris, Samson Kambalu, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, leo with Shobun Baile, Mónica de Miranda, Santu Mofokeng, Sethembile Msezane, Zanele Muholi, Eustáquio Neves, Nyaba L. Ouedraogo, Rosana Paulino, Dawit L. Petros, Zina Saro-Wiwa, Aida Silvestri, Lindokuhle Sobekwa, and Wilfred Ukpong. 

Ten by Ten: Ten Portfolios from the Meeting Place 2020-21 presents works by artists whose portfolios were chosen as outstanding image-based portfolios to be presented during the 2020–21 FotoFest International Meeting Place Portfolio Review programs by a group of invited nominators. The 2022 10 by Ten exhibition honors FotoFest’s Meeting Place Portfolio Review as a significant venue for discussion and exhibition by showcasing the work of ten artists, chosen by ten guest reviewers, whose pieces best represent the diversity of current photographic practice. 

Nominators include Nela Eggenberger, Teona Gogichaishvili, Mary Heathcott and Jacqueline McGilvray, Sam Mercer, Joaquim Paiva, Sinara Sandri, Serubiri Moses, Johan Sjöström, Paula Tognarelli, and Wendy Watriss.

The artists featured in the 2022 Ten by Ten exhibition include
Nick Block, Zana Briski, Alejandro González, Will Harris, Hillerbrand+Magsamen, Gregory Eddi Jones, Irolan Maroselli, Theresa Newsome, C. Rose Smith, and Larry Smukler.

If I Had a Hammer, African Cosmologies: Redux, and Ten by Ten are three exhibitions that are part of the Biennial 2022. These exhibitions are accompanied by six weeks of free public programming that includes a two-day symposium, artist performances, film programs, musical performances, artist talks, and tours. The school curriculum was also created in response to the Biennial theme. If I Had a Hammer, the centerpiece of the Biennial, will have its grand opening party on September 24 from 8 to 11 PM at Silver Street Studios and Winter Street Studios.