FotoFocus announces its Fall 2025 Symposium: Photo-Economics, an all-day event on Saturday, October 4, 2025, at Lightborne Studios (212 E 14th Street). Delving into the industrial history of photography and its role in shaping social narratives, the lineup includes leading voices, such as artists Mitch Epstein, Katy Grannan, Alison Rossiter, and Lauren Bon, as well as scholars such as Robert Slifkin, Monica Bravo, Lee Ann Daffner, and Benjamin Young, each exploring aspects of photography’s part in systems of global industrialization and distribution, including the impacts of these realities on social and political systems. A reception following the symposium will feature live music from local band Red Cedars.
“The FotoFocus symposium and biennial themes always address some essential aspect of photography while at the same time exploring how that aspect functions in the larger human sphere,” says Kevin Moore, Artistic Director and Curator at FotoFocus. “Photo-Economics is about the resources of photography–what photography is materially, what it’s actually made of–and the impact on people’s lives that inevitably arise over competition for those material resources.”
The keynote conversation will feature leading American photographer Mitch Epstein and NYU professor Robert Slifkin. They will elaborate upon the themes of the day, offering a deeper look at the medium of photography against the backdrop of labor and political struggles in relation to resources, class, and consumption, while emphasizing the beauty of the American landscape and the people who feel compelled to protect it.
“FotoFocus is pleased to announce this timely theme and welcome guests to this year’s symposium,” says Katherine Ryckman Siegwarth, Executive Director. “Photo-Economics marks the tenth anniversary of this signature program and continues a tradition of collaborative thinking about the contemporary world through the medium of photography.”
The event is free and open to the public, but registration is requested. Those interested can register here. For more information, please visit fotofocus.org. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) will be provided, financially assisted by H.B., E.W. & F.R. Luther Charitable Foundation, Fifth Third Bank, N.A., Trustee. For questions regarding accessibility accommodations at FotoFocus events, please contact info@fotofocus.org.
https://www.fotofocus.org/symposium/2025/schedule
Morning Session: Material Economics
Centering on the materials of photographic processes, such as silver, platinum, and bitumen, these conversations consider photography’s embeddedness with economies of mining, industrialization, land use, and environmental degradation.
Afternoon Session: Social Economics
The afternoon session examines photography’s role in communicating the human consequences of extractive capitalism, documenting and disseminating narratives ranging from post-industrial poverty to boom-time wealth.
#FotoFocus #FFsymposium #PhotoEconomics
About – Founded in 2010 in Cincinnati, Ohio, FotoFocus is a nonprofit organization created to celebrate and champion photography as the medium of our time through programming that ignites a dialogue between contemporary lens-based art and the history of photography. FotoFocus presents lens-based signature programming including the FotoFocus Biennial, FotoFocus Symposium, FotoFocus Talks, and Film and Video programming. Additionally, FotoFocus has awarded nearly 500 grants to support partners presenting projects and educational programs that are accessible and engaging to the public. These initiatives are a vital part of what makes FotoFocus such an impactful contributor to the community and the larger art world.
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