Behind the Lens started in 2017 as part a series of local events to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the establishment of Women’s History Month. We decided to curate a look at contemporary women photographers and followed up in 2018 by hosting Outspoken, an exhibition curated by Markey Kauffmann, that brought together a selection of projects by women photographers exploring gender stereotypes and issues of empowerment in their work.
From this beginning began this annual series to constantly provide an updated look at current women behind the lens. This page provides an index of these exhibitions and links together all of these related presentations. Collectively the series features work from established and early career photographers to present, with as wide a lens as possible, current practice and current issues.
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2018
Outspoken: Seven Women Photographers
Curated by Mary Kauffmann
Nadine Boughton, Blake Fitch, Nancy Grace Horton, Marky Kauffmann, Tira Khan, Rania Matar and Emily Schiffer
2019
Outspoken: Expanded
Curated by Mary Kauffmann
Nadine Broughton, Blake Fitch, Nancy Grace Horton, Marky Kauffmann, Tira Kahn, Susan Lapides, Sunjoo Lee, Raina Matar, and Emily Schiffer.
2020
Behind the Lens 2020: Women in Photography
Curated by David DeMelim
Grace Marie Dewitt, Deb Ehrens, Molly Lamb, Zena Tadmoury & Jess Voas
Visual Conversations: a conversation without words
Presented in the Focus Gallery in tandem with
Behind the Lens 2020: Women in Photography
https://www.riphotocenter.org/visual-conversations-a-conversation-without-words
Karla Bernstein, Diane Collins, Estelle Disch, Deb Ehrens, Paula Laverty, Lisa Redburn and Jean Schnell
While these 2020 exhibitions were hung, they never opened to the public as COVID-19 arrived. In response, we launched Behind the Lens Plus with the help of Grace Marie DeWitt as an extension of our exhibition Behind the Lens 2020, opening it up women everywhere to participate in our celebration of Women’s History Month and the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the U.S.
Our response to COVID-19
April 2020 – March 2021
A free exhibition series run via email and hosted online.
Call for Photography by Women:
‘Behind the Lens 2020 Plus,’ an Online Exhibition Series
Curated by Grace Marie Dewitt
‘Behind The Lens Plus’ Collection 1:
Frijke Coumans, Xiomara España, Jan Ekin, and Claudia Ruiz Gustafson
THIS IS A GOOD KISSING SPOT by Frijke Coumans ––– a cold but sunny, and sterile yet sensual, snapshot of the photographer’s greatest muse: the twin manifestation of control and desire.
Amanda & Olivia by Xiomara España ––– a gossamer-fine gesture of social harmony, concluding a photo shoot of two young but well-overlapped lives.
Untitled by Jan Ekin, from the photographic book Abstracts ––– a macro landscape that the photographer captured through her visually segmented world, helping us believe that the parts are sometimes as important as the whole.
María by Claudia Ruiz Gustafson, from the series Historias fragmentadas ––– one moment in an exercise of longing and imagination, in which the photographer attempts to connect with the live-in maid from her childhood home whose current location and even last name remain unknown.
at the lake by Catalina Aranguren ––– the photographic equivalent of a quilt: a collection of the patterns, movements, and textures that make up this single, multifaceted life.
Self-portrait with Me #2 by I-Lun Huang, from the series Self-portrait with Me ––– a character study of the dual human psyche: how we can (or cannot) document our impulsive Id with our methodical Ego.
Untitled by Shalini Ray ––– a healing exercise commemorating family history through portraiture, pieced together using inherited objects from the photographer’s late grandfather, outside the home he built.
Haidy by Laurène Southe ––– a grounding and empathetic vignette that models power, resolve, and moxie rather than accessory, fashion, or media.
‘Behind The Lens Plus’ Collection 3:
Angelina Ruiz, Mayomi Basnayaka, Işik Kaya, BLACKSWANN, and Adriana G. Torres
The Otros Espacios project by Angelina Ruiz –– An investigation of collective memory that uses found and taken portraits to navigate the connections yearned and even shared among those who have never met.
Postcard #2 from the series Nudes by Mayomi Basnayaka ––– Serving as both an act of opposition and an affirmation of beauty, these elegant details of Brown and Black women wearing “nude” garments help to expose the normalization of white bodies and champion the universal right to self-empowerment.
The Second Nature series by Işık Kaya ––– Like a mass-produced painting, or a GMO-drenched rosebush, Second Nature investigates the twisted tendency for humans to trade their imperfect reality in favor of a prettier, simpler, and emptier, world.
Community by BLACKKSWANN –– A record of peaceful protest against anti-Black police brutality in the U.S. which aims to humanize the protester community, fortify Black archives, and appendix the Westernized record of culture and art.
‘Behind The Lens Plus’ Collection 4:
The Fourth Collection was written off due to lost blocks of time that went unaccounted for in the course of 2020…
The Only Known Home from The Stories I Have To Tell series, by Alexis Childress –– A visual testament to the trial of “belonging” within white-washed power structures.
Untitled by Kayla Guajardo — A form of visual memoir that helps us cherish quotidian complexities, and muse on things unplanned.
Shutters, from the Conversations with Myself series, by Jo Ann Chaus –– One arranged moment in which the photographer fully defers to the inevitable reel of life.
Untitled by Taylor Yingshi Wang –– An intuitive endeavor to contain a simple but rich experience, in a single, but still, dimension.
We’ll Ride Them Someday from The Laundry Series, by Gail Rousseau –– A serendipitous gift brought about from seeing, and believing in, the extraordinary moments tucked into ordinary life.
‘Behind The Lens Plus’ Reflections from the Curator
Reflections from curator Grace Marie DeWitt on this year long presentation of women behind the lens…
About the Curator: Grace Marie DeWitt (she/her/hers) is one of the exhibiting artists in Behind The Lens 2020: Women in Photography, RICPA’s in-gallery companion exhibition to Behind The Lens Plus. DeWitt is a Maryland-based interdisciplinary artist, and works in national and international programs at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.
2021
Behind the Lens 2021: A Virtual Exhibition in a Physical Space
Curated by Grace Marie Dewitt & David DeMelim
‘Behind the Lens Plus’ Version 2.0: Reimagining an online exhibition Series in the Gallery –
This exhibition was mounted while still under COVID travel Restrictions. Work selected for our previous online series, Behind the Lens Plus was re-presented in mixed physical and virtual format in the gallery. No expense was incurred by the artists to be a part of this exhibition.
2022
Behind the Lens 2022: Stitches in Time
A Curated Exhibition, by Emily Belz
Becky Behar, Coco McCabe, Michelle Peterson, Gail Samuelson, and Erin Sweeney
2023
Behind the Lens 2023: Everything is Different, or Six Degrees
Curated by David DeMelim
Emily Belz, Brooke Hammerle, Fruma Markowitz, Shelby Meyerhoff, Laurie Peek & Jean Schnell
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