Originally, the Behind the Lens Plus ran through 2020 as an extension of our exhibition Behind the Lens 2020: Women in Photography, to celebrate Women’s History Month and the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the U.S.
Call for Photography by Women:
‘Behind the Lens 2020 Plus,’ an Online Exhibition Series
This page brings together all of the Behind the Lens Plus collections in one location.
‘Behind The Lens Plus’ Collection 1:
Frijke Coumans, Xiomara España, Jan Ekin, and Claudia Ruiz Gustafson
Click the link above to read about work from…
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.
‘Behind The Lens Plus’ Collection 2:
Catalina Aranguren, I-Lun Huang, Shalini Ray, and Laurène Southe
Click the link above to read about work from…
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
Click the link above to read about work from…
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 the unaccountable blocks of time that vanished in the course of 2020 and… we have sent out search parties and hope to have a status update in the near future. We are working on putting a special presentation together for release as time allows.
‘Behind The Lens Plus’ Collection 5:
Alexis Childress, Kayla Guajardo, Jo Ann Chaus, Taylor Yingshi Wang, and Gail Rousseau
Click the link above to read about work from…
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… (coming soon)
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.
Behind The Lens 2021: ‘Behind the Lens Plus’ Version 2.0: Revisiting an online exhibition Series in the Gallery
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