Howard Bossen
Independent Curator and Writer
Professor Emeritus, Photography and Visual Communication, School of Journalism
Michigan State University
Houston, TX, United States

Howard Bossen is a Houston-based independent curator and writer and a professor emeritus of photography and visual communication in the School of Journalism at Michigan State University. Howard has curated exhibitions for several museums including the Carnegie Museum of Art as well as FotoFest’s Participating Spaces program. Several of his exhibitions, articles and essays grew out of meeting photographers at FotoFest. His essays have been published in journals such as KATALOG: Journal of Photography & Video and Visual Communication Quarterly and in books including Marcus Lyon’s i.Detroit: A Human Atlas of an American City and Markéta Luskačová’s To Remember: London Street Musicians 1975–1990. His own books include Luke Swank: Modernist Photographer and Henry Holmes Smith: Man of Light.

Howard is interested in looking at a wide range of work, including those created in the digital space as well as traditional approaches such as documentary, photojournalism, portraiture, collage, and conceptual photography. He is especially interested in artist made books, including the text and design that are integral to book projects. He likes to see work that explores the intersection of art and science. He can provide curatorial insight on portfolios, suggestions on editing and sequencing, strategies for display and how work fits within the history of photography and lens-based art. He prefers not to review advertising and commercial work.

Ashlyn Davis Burns
Co-Founder, Assembly
Houston, TX, United States
assembly.art

Ashlyn Davis Burns is a writer and independent curator based in Houston, Texas and the co-founder of Assembly, a gallery, agency, creative studio, and art advisory that holistically nurtures artists and their practice, while identifying and cultivating opportunities for collaborations with a global network of creatives in both the fine art and commercial worlds. Burns has worked to support lens-based artists for the past decade through curatorial, editorial, and fundraising initiatives, including most recently as the Executive Director & Curator of Houston Center for Photography (2015-2020). She has written for numerous publications, consulted with artists and publishers on photobooks, and curated exhibitions internationally for a variety of institutions including libraries, universities, and galleries.

She is most interested in seeing projects that create dialogue about our culture and that demonstrate a clear relationship between the form and content of the work. She is interested in talking through these ideas as well as presentation, installation, and publication approaches with artists looking for feedback on the development of a project.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English

MaryAnn Camilleri
Founder & President, The Magenta Foundation
Toronto, Canada
magentafoundation.org
magentafoundation.org/unstuck

The Magenta Foundation is a trailblazing charitable arts-publishing house that consistently showcases the work of talented artists on a global scale, drawing attention to under-represented and emerging artists with powerful exhibitions and a roster of impressive international publications.

Through its diverse programming, which includes book publishing, the UNSTUCK Photo Competition, an education program, and its latest addition of working with Emerging Curatorial and MFA students to create their first major exhibition and publication, from LGBTQ2+ archives. The foundation is embracing the ever-changing art arena while forging stronger alliances with international galleries,  curators, artists and post-secondary schools.

Known and respected for her commitment to providing a platform for emerging talent, and for increasing the profile of under-documented, established artists, MaryAnn Camilleri is sought out to provide advice and guidance to individuals, corporations, and non-profit organizations. She is always looking for engaging projects that can translate well into an exhibition or a publication.

Whether projects are appropriate for Magenta’s publishing or exhibition mandate or not, Camilleri is happy to offer advice and encouragement in proceeding with projects in ways that will best suit an artist.

Camilleri is looking for well-developed bodies of work, which are either in progress or ready for publication or exhibition. She is also happy to provide advice to those seeking direction with projects in development, including editing and sequencing and marketing guidance. Camilleri is not interested in reviewing traditional documentary, classical nudes, landscapes, or commercial work.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English

Sebah Chaudhry
Freelance Producer & Curator
Co-Director, ReFramed
Birmingham, United Kingdom
reframed.uk

Sebah Chaudhry is a Freelance Creative Producer and Curator experienced in working at international world class festivals, projects and events. She is Co-Founder and Co-Director of ReFramed, a photographic based visual arts network based in the Midlands of the United Kingdom, supporting the community and artists who are Black, Asian, or from other ethnic minorities. She is also a Director at BCVA, where she has just started a heritage project with Derby Museums working with the South Asian community. She is currently Producer & Curator of Picturing High Streets, a Historic England funded project managed by Photoworks. In October of 2022, she became a Visiting Lecturer on the BA Photography course at Manchester School of Art, MMU.

She was previously Creative Producer & Assistant Curator on an international British Council funded project with Ffotogallery, The Place I Call Home, connecting the UK to the Gulf region, culminating in 10 exhibitions from September 2019 - March 2020 in 9 countries. From 2013 - 2017, Sebah was Coordinator & Curator at FORMAT Festival. She became a freelancer in 2018, and until March 2023, she continued to manage the UK’s largest annual portfolio review. She also manages the Belfast Photo Festival Portfolio Review.

Sebah reviews portfolios internationally and mentor’s artists. She has also curated a number of exhibitions as a freelancer, and with organisations across the UK. With TRACE, she launched a year-long mentorship programme for women over the age of 35. She was on the selection panel for BJP Portrait of Britain 2023 & 2021, Source Graduate Photography Online 2023 and NAE Open 2023. She has been on the Jury for UNSTUCK, The Ian Parry Scholarship and RPS IPE 163 Open Call. She is the Curator for AIS Open 2023 which was also exhibited at Korea International Photo Festival 2023. Currently UK editor for thephotoexhibitionarchive.com, Berlin, Steering Group member for FORMAT Festival, Derby and Trustee at Royal Photographic Society and COMMUN.

Sebah is particularly interested in reviewing narrative bodies of work that are in progress or complete. She is not interested in reviewing nude photography.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English, Urdu, Mirpuri

Image by MK Hussain

Whitney Cole
Co-Director, Candela Books + Gallery
Richmond, VA, United States
candelagallery.com

Whitney Cole is Co-Director of Candela Books + Gallery, a commercial fine art photography gallery and independent photo book publisher based out of Richmond, VA. Since 2011, the gallery has celebrated all forms of photography from emerging and established artists, shining light on process, politics, science, and storytelling. Candela has published ten titles, the most recent being Memory Orchards, an anthology on photographers and their families. The gallery is also known for its annual juried + invitational exhibition, UnBound!, which offers artists a free submission process and a permanent collection opportunity.

In 2023, Candela exhibitions featured Shawn Bush, Justin Carney, Eli Craven, Gary Emrich, Liliana Guzmán, Alma Haser, Adriene Hughes, Priya Kambli, Willie Anne Wright, and others.

Whitney is interested in unique applications of the photographic process, bookmaking and image
sequencing, and thoughtful concepts which are reflected clearly in the execution of an artist’s work.
Well-established bodies of work are ideal, but she is open to reviewing compelling emerging projects.
Whitney would prefer not to discuss conceptually weak nudes.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English

Patricia Conde
Director, Patricia Conde Galeria 
México City, México 
pcg.photo

Patricia Conde has been Director of Patricia Conde Galería for over 20 years. Under her guide, the gallery has become a referent in contemporary Mexican photography, she has led the gallery to attend local and international photography art Fairs such as Paris Photo, Photo London, AIPAD, Zsona MACO, ACME, and many others.

She is most interested in reviewing a body of work with an individual and clearly articulated point of view, with a clear statement, whether that work relates to photography’s documentary/artistic histories, conceptual practices or more experimental traditions. She is not interested in reviewing fashion, nude, magazine-oriented assignments, NFTs, AI generated images.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English, Spanish 

Malcolm Daniel
Gus and Lyndall Wortham Curator of Photography, The Museum of Fine Arts
Houston, TX, United States
mfah.org

After 23 years at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he served as Senior Curator and Head of the Department of Photographs, Malcolm Daniel joined The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in 2013. Although his scholarly work has concentrated on the first 75 years of the medium, Daniel oversees the museum’s acquisitions and exhibitions spanning the full history of photography from its birth to the present day. His recent exhibitions and installations at the MFAH have included monographic presentations of Dawoud Bey, Fazal Sheikh, David Levinthal, Eugène Atget, and Sally Mann as well as an ongoing series, A History of Photography, selected from the museum’s permanent collection.

At FotoFest, he is most interested in reviewing the work of experienced photographers with several bodies of work under their belt, and is more interested in photography as creative expression than as documentation, no matter how worthy the cause (acknowledging, of course, that expressive and documentary photography are not mutually exclusive). He is not particularly interested in nudes, down-on-their-luck small towns, the final days of a beloved relative, or accidental abstractions made with 19th-century processes. Although the Museum occasionally (but rarely) acquires work seen at reviews, we are not looking for exhibition ideas or material at The Meeting Place. However, with nearly 30 years experience as a photography curator and a broad knowledge of the history, Daniel is able to help artists edit or sequence their work and can point to directions he feels most promising for future development.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English

Cathy Edelman
Co-Founder, CASE Art Fund
Chicago, IL, United States
caseartfund.org

December 1, 2022, marked the 35-year anniversary of Catherine Edelman Gallery, a venue for contemporary fine art photography in Chicago. Since its founding in 1987, the gallery established itself as one of the leading galleries in the US devoted to the exhibition of prominent living photographers, alongside new & young talent. The gallery showcased a broad range of subject matter, and its website offers a wealth of information, including artist talks, interviews with art world professionals, and extensive educational material.

Catherine closed CEG in late 2022 and co-founded CASE Art Fund with Norwegian gallerist Anette Skuggedal. CASE raises awareness about children's human rights through the support and exhibition of photography.

Catherine is most interested in reviewing socially oriented work that is mission-driven. She is not interested in nudes, flowers, architectures, or abstraction.

Anette Skuggedal
Co-Founder and Curator, CASE Art Fund
Chicago, IL, United States
caseartfund.org

Anette Skuggedal grew up in Asia and Oslo Norway. She holds a bachelor of Science Communication, as AD, from University of Texas at Austin. For thirty years, Skuggedal worked as an art director in film, advertising, and broadcasting. In 2003, she left the commercial industry to focus on art working as an art consultant, and went on to establish PUG OSLO [Pop Up Gallery] as a consultant for private and corporate collections. In 2017, Skuggedal renamed PUG, opening Lumina Gallery as part of a cultural art house in downtown Oslo that includes venues for music, film, architecture, and fashion. During this time she has curated a number of museum shows, including A Matter of Time (Sally Mann), and Theatre of the Absurd (Roger Ballen). The Gallery represents artists who are committed to the photographic image and its potential to expand the boundaries of contemporary art. She is interested in evolving and curious artists who are committed to social issues using the tools of fine art photography and mix-media to give their work honesty and depth.

In 2018 Skuggedal partnered with Cathy Edelman to form CASE Art Fund, a 501(c)3 non-profit that gives support and exposure to fine art photographers whose projects focus on humanitarian issues and create a positive impact on social awareness, human rights, and education for children. CASE’s vision is to be at the forefront of presenting photographs through installations, about social injustices that inspire, educate, raise awareness, and create a dialogue.

Thomas Elsen
Head and Curator, Neue Galerie im Höhmannhaus and H2 – Center for Contemporary Art in Glasspalace
Kunstsammlungen und Museen
Augsburg, Germany
www.h2-glaspalast.de

Thomas Elsen joined the Kunstsammlungen und Museen, Augsburg, in 1996 as curator of art and photography. He founded the Neue Galerie im Höhmannhaus, an experimental art space, in 1997, and H2 – Center for Contemporary Art in the Glasspalace, in 2006. Recent exhibitions include Behind Landscape (Jaakko Heikkilä, Anastasia Khoroshilova, Trevor Paglen, 2012); Portraits d’artistes: Edward Steichen – Jean Noel Schramm (2014); Faces of Disappearance (Sophie Calle, Larry Sultan, Olaf Unverzart, 2015/16); Not Here Yet, co-curated with Celina Lunsford (Alberto García Alix, Maurizio Cattelan, Hamish Fulton, Ferit Kuyas, 2016/17); The Blue Planet (Olaf Otto Becker, Barbara Ciurej/Lindsay Lochmann, Andrea Motta, Saba Sitton, 2020/21); European Trails (Letizia Battaglia, Youquine Lefèvre, Joanna Piotrowska, Katharina Sieverding, 2022); and PaintingPhotography (Roni Ben Porat, Philipp Goldbach, Claire Laude, Troika, on view through January 2024). He has curated exhibitions for European Month of Photography, Düsseldorf Photo Weekend, Salon of MoCAB Belgrade, and Tashkent Photo-Biennale. He is a member of Deutsche Fotografische Akademie DFA, German Photographic Academy.

Regarding photography, Elsen is more interested in visual-based thinking than cognitive. The clear, strong image should be the concept, rather than employing a theory as justification to create it. He looks for serious visual pathfinders who articulate clear ideas aesthetically. Though always pleased to meet well-known photographers, he is more delighted to find talents with whom he can have a dialogue, in hopes of understanding their individual excellence and developable capabilities.

LANGUAGES: English, German, Italian

Image by Stefan Winterstetter

Erica Garber
Vice President of Development and Public Programs, CatchLight
San Francisco, CA, United States
catchlight.io

Erica Garber is the Vice President of Development and Public Programs for CatchLight, a visual media nonprofit that leverages the power of visuals to inform, connect, and transform communities. She leads efforts to fund CatchLight’s Global and Local fellowships and organizes public programs such as the annual Visual Storytelling Summit (San Francisco) and Night of Photojournalism (Paris).

She has worked in the arts for 15+ years in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York, organizing exhibitions and public programs at the Museum of the African Diaspora, and has worked as a curator with private collections. She curated exhibitions including: Envisioning Jazz, works by Kwame Brathwaite (Columbia University), Claiming Space (Third Text Africa), and exhibitions at MoAD including: Decoding Identity: I Do it for my People, American Icons: Bay Area, and Sacred Arts of Haiti. She has reviewed portfolios at National Geographic Summit, Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, and PhotoAlliance reviews.

In 2011, she was awarded a OYASAF Fellowship to study contemporary art in Lagos, Nigeria. She earned a BFA in Art Education at the University of Arizona and a MA in Modern Art History: Critical and Curatorial Studies at Columbia University.

Garber is particularly interested in reviewing work by artists who are exploring how they can connect their work with different audiences through experiences, activations, and public exhibitions.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English

Photo by Christopher Michel

Hamidah Glasgow
Executive Director and Curator
Center for Fine Art Photography
Fort Collins, CO
c4fap.org

Hamidah Glasgow has been the Executive Director and Curator at The Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, Colorado since 2009. She holds a master’s degree in humanities specializing in visual and gender studies and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. Hamidah is a co-founder of the Strange Fire Collective. Strange Fire Collective is a group of interdisciplinary artists, curators, and writers focused on work that engages with current social and political forces. We seek to create a venue for work that critically questions the dominant social hierarchy and are dedicated to highlighting work made by women, people of color, and queer and trans artists. She is one of the founding board members of the Colorado Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Hamidah is interested in work that pushes the boundaries of photography, socially and environmentally relevant work, and projects that can exist outside the traditional gallery format. She is not interested in traditional nudes, traditional landscapes, and commercial work.

Jean-Christophe Godet
Artistic Director, Guernsey Photography Festival (UK)/GLAZ Recontres Internationales de Photographic Rennes (FR)  United Kingdom / France  
guernseyphotographyfestival.com 

Born in Normandy, France, Jean-Christophe Godet is the founder and artistic director of the Guernsey Photography Festival (UK), created in 2010 and Glaz Rencontres International de la Photographie (Rennes) (France). He has worked for many years for major international organizations such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra and The Barbican Centre (a performing arts centre based in the City of London considered the largest of its kind in Europe). He is a regular reviewer and judge to many international photography events and  competitions.

The Guernsey Photography Festival brings together major names in international
photography with a host of emerging talent, for a packed month of exhibitions, projections, talks, educational workshops, and community events on the island. The festival also runs an international artist in residence programme. The festival is now firmly established as one of the most important and successful cultural events in Guernsey and has positioned itself amongst the best festivals of photography in Europe.  

GLAZ Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie is a new festival in Rennes (France) and his region (Britanny) that will open in November 2023 with over 30 exhibitions in over 25 different venues. GLAZ encourages cultural exchange and accessibility. We share artistic work that uncovers and examines the world in which we live. For us, photography is a powerful tool for reflection and action. We consider photographers as authors; able to conceptualize and visually interpret ideas, statements and causes with bold experimentation via both fiction and non-fiction work. GLAZ encourages multidisciplinary projects that combine artistic practices, stimulate curiosity, and engage new audiences. Outreach programmes and educational activities are at the core of our foundation. GLAZ actively supports artistic work that offers alternative perspectives on our environment, while considering potential solutions to the complex ecological issues we face. 

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English, French 

Teona Gogichaishvili
Curator, Tutor, and Visual Artist
Kolga Tbilisi Photo Festival
Tbilisi, Georgia
kolga.ge

Teona Gogichaishvili is a native of Georgia and has lived in Germany for 27 years. After studying German literature and  photography, she works now as an artist, lecturer and curator. Since 2011 she has been co-organizer and curator of the international photography festival KOLGA TBILISI PHOTO in Tbilisi, Georgia. She also organizes and curates various exhibition projects in Germany and abroad. Her focus is on artistic and documentary photography.

Since 2022, Ms. Gogichaishvili has been a member of the Board of Directors, Imagery Section, of the DGPh - German Society of Photography. Ms. Gogichaishvili is also a portfolio reviewer, involved in various photo festivals, including Hamburg Portfolio, Arles, Paris, Visa pour l’image/Perpignan and Houston's FotoFest Meeting Place. As part of KOLGA TBILISI PHOTO Festival 2023, Ms. Gogichaishvili, together with her colleague Manfred Zollner, curated a group exhibition "FotoFest Reviewed" in which 10 selected works from the last Meeting Place in Houston were shown.

Ms. Gogichaishvili particularly interested in reviewing long-term projects, documentary photography, reportage, and artistic photography within the themes of migration, women, and biographical work. She is not interested in reviewing advertising photography, nude photography, or animal photography.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English, German, Georgian, Russian

Beso Khaindrava
Founder & Director
Kolga Tbilisi Photo Festival
Tbilisi, Georgia
kolga.ge

Beso Khaindrava was born in 1973 in Tbilisi, and studied at the Technical University of Georgia and at the European Academy of Culture and Management in Salzburg (Austria). In 2002, he founded Kolga Tbilisi Photo, one of the largest Photo festivals in the region.

In 2006 the festival became international. The aim of the festival is to connect the various positions of international photography – both classical and modern. Kolga Tbilisi Photo has hosted several very important exhibitions, a series of seminars and lectures, portfolio reviews, and an international photography competition.

Kolga Tbilisi Photo exhibitions include historically significant works, including works by Jacques Henri Lartigue, a group exhibition of contemporary American photography, contemporary German photography, solo exhibitions by Brian Griffin, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Sarah Moon, Jonas Bendiksen - and many others. Kolga Tbilisi Photo exhibitions raise issues of wide public interest including social activism, human rights and culture.

Mr. Khaindarava is particularly interested in reviewing Documentary, Reportage, and conceptual photography. He is not interested in reviewing advertising photography.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English, Georgian, Russian

Fabian Goncalves Borrega
Exhibitions Coordinator, Art Museum of the Americas
Washington, D.C., United States
museum.oas.org

Fabian Goncalves Borrega is primarily interested in reviewing developed and innovative bodies of work. All types of imagery are welcome for review, from documentary to landscape, still life to conceptual, including artist books. Aside from offering criticism and critique of the photography itself, its technique and conceptualization, Mr. Goncalves Borrega will evaluate whether the artworks are suitable for a solo or group exhibition at the AMA Photo Gallery. As part of the Organization of American States (OAS) Art Museum of the Americas (AMA), the Photo Gallery serves to promote the core values of the OAS by providing a space for dialogue and learning, highlighting themes such as democracy, development, and human rights.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: Spanish, English

Rafael (Rafa) Cruz
Photographer, Art Museum of the Americas
Washington, DC
museum.oas.org
rafacruz.com
Rafa Cruz began his career as a commercial photographer in his beloved Puerto Rico. He developed his craft as a portrait artist, photographing more than 200 weddings, working with companies such as Hilton, Doubletree, Embassy, Esposa Moderna Magazine, Airbus, and the Latin Chamber of Commerce of Washington, DC.
Since 2016, he has worked with the AMA | Art Museum of the Americas of the Organization of American States (OAS), Washington, DC, photographing hundreds of modern and contemporary artworks of the Americas for art criticism books, archival databases, exhibition catalogs, and other publications. He travels frequently, documenting cultures near and far from an anthropological, spontaneous, human perspective.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English, Spanish, basic Italian

Viviette Hunt
Director, Richard Levy Gallery
Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
levygallery.com

For over 2 decades, Viviette Hunt has served as director for Richard Levy Gallery. Although the gallery represents diverse mediums, photography has been heavily represented in the gallery program since the gallery doors opened in 1991. During her tenure, Hunt has supported artists by providing strategic opportunities for exposure in New Mexico, online and within the international marketplace. She has curated approximately 250 gallery exhibitions and pop up events within the state of New Mexico and has attended or exhibited at more than 200 international art fairs throughout the world. In addition to selling art to the collectors and institutions, Hunt is an fine art archivist and independent consultant.

Hunt leverages art and creativity for positive impact and is dedicated to providing visibility for artists working with social justice and climate awareness within the commercial market. She is currently most interested in reviewing work by artists exploring concepts of restoration, regeneration, inter-connectivity, and interdependence through an artistic lens whether achieved by documentary, conceptual or more experimental practices.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English

WM Hunt
Private Collector
New York City, NY
wmhunt.com

He has been looking at and talking about photography for a long time. WM - Bill - Hunt first reviewed portfolios at FotoFest in 1992. He is a champion of photography: a collector, curator and consultant, writer and former dealer who lives and works in New York

He is pleased to offer critical or career advice. He likes work that is resolved, not in progress. Please no nudes; sex pictures, ok.

Be brave. He’ll like that.

Google him. His most recent writings can be found at wmhunt.com/somereallygoodones. His collections have been exhibited in Europe and the US. He is a longtime teacher and presenter, and he has judged too many competitions to remember. He was on the board of the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund and head judge twice.

wmhunt@wmhunt.com
FB: W.m. Hunt
IG: wmhuntdbear

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English, French

Tiffany Jones
Founding Publisher, Overlapse
London, United Kingdom
www.overlapse.com

Tiffany Jones is the founding publisher of Overlapse, a London-based photobook imprint started in 2015. With over 30 years dedicated to arts publishing and photojournalism, she is an editor, book designer, researcher and educator working with global programmes and institutions. She collaborates in tandem with photographers and artists to communicate through the making of unique, desirable, and beautifully produced books. Subjects and stories address social, cultural, and environmental issues, and highlight enduring and universal themes connected to human experience. Notable publications include You can call me Nana by Will Harris (finalist, 2021 Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation First Photobook prize); A Parallel Road by Amani Willett (top 10 photobooks of 2021, David Campany for ICP); and Beyond Drifting: Imperfectly Known Animals by Mandy Barker (nominated for the 2018 Deutsche Börse Foundation Prize).

Haley Berkman Karren
Founder & Director, Karren Art Advisory
Houston, TX, United States
karrenartadvisory.com

Haley Berkman Karren is an art advisor, appraiser, independent curator, and writer. She is the also Founder and Director of Karren Art Advisory, where she specializes in modern and contemporary art, photography, and digital art. She enjoys working with artists to place their work in collections and to create site-specific commissions.

She has previously held curatorial positions at the Menil Collection; the Department of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Department of Photography at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Dallas Museum of Art; and the Pentagram Stiftung, Venice. She also has previous experience in auction houses, galleries, and art consultancies. She holds a B.A. with honors in Art History and Archaeology from Washington University in St. Louis, and an M.A. in the History of Art and Archaeology from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, where she focused on contemporary art and photography.

Karren is interested in reviewing conceptual photography, documentary photography, and work that utilizes historic and alternative processes. She prefers seeing portfolios that feature work from at least one resolved project, but is also happy to speak with emerging photographers. She is interested in speaking with photographers who are considering NFTs and would like to learn about the NFT space.

Languages spoken: English

Geoffrey C. Koslov
Co-Founder and Owner, Koslov Larsen
Houston, TX, United States
koslovlarsen.gallery

Geoffrey Koslov co-founded Koslov Larsen (formerly Foto Relevance), an AIPAD-member fine art gallery located in the museum district of Houston, Texas, for contemporary photography-based art. He served for many years on the Photography Acquisitions Subcommittee for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), and on the Board of Directors for the Houston Center for Photography (HCP). He is a former member of HCP’s Exhibitions Committee, a former co-chair of its Print Auction, and is currently co-chair of the Art Circle at Holocaust Museum Houston. Geoffrey has reviewed the work of artists in various venues across the United States and abroad, and in consultation with collectors. He has participated in portfolio reviews with FotoFest, the Center for Fine Art Photography (CFAP), The Rencontres d’Arles (France), the Colorado Photographic Arts Center (CPAC), The Medium Festival of Photography, PhotoLucida, Critical Mass, PhotoVisa (Russia), ASmith Gallery, and others.

Geoffrey has more than 45 years of business experience which he brings to the arts. With this experience, he helps photographers with project development and talking and writing about their work, as well as consulting and advising artists on strategy and approaches to the art market. Foto Relevance looks for artists who uniquely incorporate photography into different media and modes of expression that expand the definition of what is considered photographic. Foto Relevance has placed work in major institutions as well as in corporate and city collections such as the City of Houston and Houston Airport System.

Geoffrey is especially interested in the creative use of media and light, and in work that provides new ways of seeing our diverse world through many different genres of expression. He is not interested in reviewing commercial work (other than fashion), nor nudes.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English

Elizabeth Krist
Independent Visual Editor, Visual Thinking Collective
Jersey City, NJ, United States
visualthinkingcollective.com

A founding member of the Visual Thinking Collective, Elizabeth Krist was a National Geographic photo editor for over 20 years. She is on the boards of Women Photograph and of the W. Eugene Smith Fund, and often advises the Eddie Adams Workshop. She also collaborates with Apple. In 2023 she co-curated CatchLight’s Visual Storytelling Summit in San Francisco. For more than ten years she helped program National Geographic Society’s Photography Seminar. Elizabeth curated the Women of Vision exhibition and book, plus three Photoville installations. She has freelanced for The New Yorker and Magnum Photos. Honors include the 2020 John Durniak Mentor Award from NPPA, and recognition from POYi, Overseas Press Club, and Communication Arts. She teaches for the International Center of Photography, and often judges grants and competitions, most recently for Leica Women Foto Project and the Infinity Awards.

Elizabeth is most interested in seeing both documentary work and conceptual work. She is less equipped to comment on lifestyle photography. She enjoys helping photographers focus, edit, and sequence their bodies of work. And she’s happy to brainstorm on how to reach desired audiences, and possible places to share their work.

Shane Lavalette
Founding Director, Assembly
Houston, TX, United States
assembly.art
shanelavalette.com

Shane Lavalette is a photographer and Founding Director of Assembly, a global platform supporting an innovative roster of artists. Previously, Lavalette worked as the Director of the non-profit organization Light Work. He has also worked as an independent curator, publisher, writer, and consultant to collectors, institutions, photo editors, and artists. He holds a BFA from Tufts University in partnership with The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Lavalette’s own photographs have been shown widely, including exhibitions at the High Museum of Art, Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, Aperture Foundation, Montserrat College of Art, The Carpenter Center for Visual Arts at Harvard University, The Center for Photography at Woodstock, Kaunas Gallery, Le Château d’Eau, Fotostiftung Schweiz, Musée de l’Elysée, and Robert Morat Galerie, in addition to being held in private and public collections.

Lavalette is the author of four award-winning monographs: One Sun, One Shadow (Lavalette, 2016), Still (Noon) (Edition Patrick Frey, 2018), LOST, Syracuse (Kris Graves Projects, 2019), and New Monuments (Libraryman, 2019). Lavalette’s work has been featured by The New York Times, TIME, NPR, CNN, The Telegraph, Aperture, Foam Magazine, Hotshoe, among others, and his editorial work has accompanied stories in various publications, including The New York Times Magazine, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Esquire, Bloomberg Businessweek, Curbed, Vice Magazine, The Wire, Wallpaper, Monocle, The Guardian, and ZEITmagazin. Lavalette is represented by Robert Morat Galerie in Berlin and We Folk agency in London/New York.

At the Meeting Place, Lavalette is particularly interested in reviewing existing published work ready for exhibition or artists developing book projects.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English

Gwen Lee
Founder & Director, Singapore International Photography Festival
Co-Founder, DECK
Singapore
sipf.sg
deck.sg

After 6 years of experience in museum industry, Gwen Lee went on to pursue her first love for photography as the co-founder of Singapore International Photography Festival (SIPF), a biennial international photography platform. In 2012, the photo festival received arts council grants to further develop photography education among the public in Singapore, and in 2013, Lee embarked on curatorial research in Germany supported by Goethe Institut Singapore & National Arts Council. In 2014, she led a team to create DECK, an art space that provides a year-round platform and residency program for photographers. DECK received the Singapore President’s Design Award 2015 for its innovative architectural design for the arts. Lee is also a recipient of Chevalier - Ordres des Arts et des Lettres (2021), and an arts award from Japan Chamber of Commerce & Trade, Singapore (2010) for her contribution to the arts and cultural exchange.

Currently, Lee is busy with a new building project for a new DECK center for photographic arts, and planning for the next SIPF festival to open in the last quarter of 2024. Gwen has curated & organized over 40 photography exhibitions both in Singapore and overseas. Some of the exhibitions includes Margins: drawing pictures of home (2021), Art Science Museum, Singapore; Flux Realities: Contemporary Photography from China (2014), Art Science Museum, Singapore; Steidl 101 Books (2016) DECK; as well as solo exhibitions of work by Daido Moriyama (2016) and Araki Nobuyoshi (2018). She has served as a jury member and portfolio reviewer on several international platforms, including the FOAM Paul Huf Award, New Cosmos Japan, FORMAT UK, KL PHOTO Award, KG+, DIPE China, Houston's FotoFest Meeting Place, Daegul Photo Biennale, Rencontres d’Arles and Ballarat International Foto Biennale.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English, Chinese

Celina Lunsford
Artistic Director and Curator, Fotografie Forum Frankfurt
Frankfurt, Germany
fffrankfurt.org

Celina Lunsford is a curator of photography and other media. She is the artistic director of the Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, a major photographic art center since 1984. Lunsford is responsible for the exhibitions program, the FFF Academy, and is co-curator for the RAY Triennale.

Diverse global perspectives in photography have long been present in artists she chooses to exhibit or support. Lunsford has been a juror and nominator for many prizes, including the Shpilman International Prize, Prix Pictet and the Deutsche Börse Photography Award; and curated and written for other organizations such as Fundación Mapfre, Fundación Telefonica, Photography Festival Lodz and Lianzhou International Photography Festival.

She writes for photographers and has mentored for Olympus Recommended Award, the Joop Swart Masterclass and ASEF (Asia-Europe Foundation) Forum for Photographers. Recent publications include Ideologies: RAY 2021 (Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg, 2021), Peter Fink. My Mind’s Eye (Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg, 2020) and Picture Languages, Photographic Art from Georgia (Societäts Verlag, Frankfurt, 2018). Lunsford was 2010-2018 the Vice President of the DFA (German Academy of Photography). In 2022 Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences named her Honorary Professor.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English, German

James E. Maloney
Private Collector
Houston, TX, United States

James E. Maloney is a resident of Houston, where he has been a trial attorney for some 40 years. He has been a collector of photography for almost as long, beginning shortly after being introduced to FotoFest in the mid-1980’s.

Over the years Maloney has been a member of and chaired the Board of Directors of FotoFest, has been associated with the Houston Center for Photography, and is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Co-Chair of its Photography Committee.

Of the Meeting Place, Maloney says "I have been lucky enough to be chosen as a reviewer by FotoFest for a number of years now, and thoroughly enjoy the experience. My collection has been the beneficiary of many pieces that I have seen during reviews and my collection of photographer friends and correspondents has been increased every two years for many years now."

At the Meeting Place, James Maloney is not interested in landscape photography. Of his collection, Maloney states “It has been remarked that the only constant in my collection is that I have purchased only images that I like. I chose to hang every photograph that I have. The notion that images should lie fallow in boxes or drawers is alien to me. I want to see my images.”

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English, Spanish, some French

Anne Leighton Massoni
Executive Director and Curator, Houston Center for Photography
Houston, TX, United States
hcponline.org

Anne Leighton Massoni is Executive Director & Curator of the Houston Center for Photography (HCP) in Texas. Before joining HCP, she was the Dean and Managing Director of Education at the International Center of Photography in New York City. Massoni graduated with an MFA in Photography from Ohio University and BAs in Photography and Anthropology from Connecticut College. She co-edited The Focal Press Companion to the Constructed Image in Contemporary Photography with Marni Shindelman in 2018; and has curated over twenty exhibitions including dust to dust, which included Christine Elfman, Granville Carroll, Jonas Yip, and Adrienne Simmons.

The Houston Center for Photography is an organization dedicated to the art of photography. Starting in 1981 as a small visual artists’ organization, its mission has always been to promote the art and practice of  photography in all its forms through various programs. HCP is comprised of three galleries and over 200 feet of linear exhibiting space. HCP is actively looking to build two and three person exhibitions with each artist exhibiting in their own gallery for the 2026 exhibition year. Massoni is particularly interested in work that addresses identity, contemporary societal issues, and/or challenges the practice of photography through new or re-envisioned technologies.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English

Dina Mitrani
Director, Dina Mitrani Gallery 
Miami, FL
dinamitranigallery.com

Dina Mitrani has been working in the art world for 30 years. She is the owner / director of her eponymous photography gallery in Miami which opened in Wynwood in 2008.  After receiving a Bachelor’s in Art History at the University of Michigan and a Master’s from Hunter College, she worked at Christie’s, and two art galleries in New York.  In 2000, Dina returned to her native Miami inspired a hunch that the garment district where her parents had a clothing factory was slowly becoming an art district.

Dina Mitrani Gallery specializes in international contemporary photography, representing emerging and mid-career artists, offering artists talks and lectures on photography as well as photo-based objects and books. The gallery is committed to promoting its artists, as well as working with other photography galleries, dealers and curators to bring unique photography exhibitions to Miami.  The gallery’s mission is not only to exhibit and sell photography but also to educate and be a resource for the art community.

Dina has served as a board member of the Miami Art Dealers Association, and the Photography Center of the History Miami Museum. She has juried many photo competitions, leads art talks to students on the university and high school level and reviews artist portfolios at national photography festivals such as Photolucida, FotoFest, Palm Springs Photo Festival, Atlanta Celebrates Photography and the Miami Street Photography Festival.

As a native of this growing city, Dina’s interest and passion for the evolving arts and culture community is evident in her dedication to lens-based work, her Wynwood history, and her collaborative work with other local, national and international institutions. She is working on opening a new photography, film and video art space in the little river neighborhood of Miami with her sister Rhonda. Dina lives in Miami with her two teenage daughters and her mini golden doodle.

At the Meeting Place, Dina Mitrani is interested in reviewing photo-based, mixed media photography, conceptual and narrative works.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English, Spanish

Mark Murrmann
Photo Director, Mother Jones 
San Francisco, California
motherjones.com

Mark Murrmann is Photo Director at Mother Jones, where he oversees and assigns all photography for the website and magazine, which has published since 1976. He has been at Mother Jones since 2007, having previously been a freelance photojournalist and music writer.

He is an educator, writer, former board member of SF Camerawork and remains an active photographer who regularly self-publishes photozines.

While open to seeing a range of work, Mark has a particular interest in documentary projects, editorial work, and portraiture. He is especially excited to see works in progress on which he can give constructive feedback regarding sequencing and editing, strategies for publishing and exploring avenues to expand a project. He is not interested in reviewing conceptual fine art. 

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English

Dennis Nance
Curator, Galveston Art Center
Galveston, TX, United States
www.galvestonartscenter.org

Dennis Nance is an artist and curator from Houston, Texas. He was appointed as Curator for the Galveston Arts Center in 2016 where he organizes exhibitions featuring work by contemporary artists from Texas and the Gulf Coast region. From 2007 to 2016, Nance was Exhibitions & Programming Director for Lawndale Art Center in Houston, Texas, where he worked extensively with local and regional artists through exhibitions and the Lawndale Artist Studio Program. Nance is a past member of the Artist Advisory Board for DiverseWorks and BOX 13 ArtSpace artist member. Nance is a practicing artist and was awarded an Individual Artist Grant from the Houston Arts Alliance and an Idea Fund Award in 2015. His work has been included in exhibitions at the ICA Boston; the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston; The Brandon; BOX13 ArtSpace; and the Menil Collection bookstore. He received his BA from Austin College in Sherman, TX with a concentration in Fine Arts and French.

For artists living in the Greater Houston Area, it would benefit them to schedule a time to me with me outside of the dedicated Meeting Place in order to take advantage of the visiting reviewers.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English, some French and Japanese

Laura Noble
Founder and Director
L A Noble Gallery
London, United Kingdom
lauraannnoble.com
@lanoblegallery
@lauraannnoble

Laura Noble is the founder and Director of L A Noble Gallery in London (LANG), launched in 2012, and FIX Photo Festival since 2016. She is also a multidisciplinary artist, curator and author of The Art of Collecting Photography, with primary essays in many photobooks including monographs, catalogues and anthologies alongside articles for numerous journals worldwide. She is a proud feminist and is currently working on a new book focusing on the role of women in the photography industry. As an avid collector, Laura prides herself on discovering new talent, also lecturing and consulting on all aspects of collecting photography, professional and gallery practice globally.

Laura is a nominator for the Prix Pictet Prize, and a judge for many photographic competitions and residency programmes worldwide. She reviews at photo festivals globally.

Laura curates at LANG and independently worldwide for museums and other art organizations. Her recent curation includes LANG artist’s: Wendy Aldiss My Father’s Things – Oxford, Roy Mehta Revival London 1989-1993 - Brent Museum and Archives Magazzini Fotografici in Naples with Chris Steele-Perkins work Japan and the 50th Anniversary of Rencontres d’Arles at the MRO Foundation, Yvonne De Rosa Negativo 1930 as well as the curation of the prestigious London Art Fair Photo50 exhibition Occupy the Void, were received with much critical acclaim.

With a commitment to emerging photographer’s L A Noble Gallery offer regular portfolio reviews, mentoring and bespoke consultations for artists. L A Noble Gallery also participates and exhibits at several photography fairs and festivals worldwide.

Laura loves to see all types of photography and photobooks including nudes, however minus misogyny.

Ute Noll
Director, Ute Noll Visual Projects
Owner, Uno Art Space Gallery
Photo Director, Du Magazin
Stuttgart, Germany
unoartspace.com
utenoll.com
du-magazin.com
dtdf.de

Ute Noll has been working internationally and interdisciplinarily in the broad field of art and documentary photography for more than two decades. She works a photo director, magazine editor, curator, writer, university lecturer and mentor and offers her extensive expertise and her long-term experience under the one roof of her project Agency Ute Noll - Visual Projects, based in Stuttgart. She also runs her Gallery Uno Art Space in Stuttgart, founded in 2007. In her gallery Ute Noll has mounted more than 40 shows with international photographers, including discoveries from the FotoFest Meeting Place, since 2007. Ute Noll is also photo director at Du Magazin, Zurich, with a focus on art, culture, and modern life. Recently, she has been a judge for competitions such as Rhonda Wilson Award 2023, Merck-Preis der Darmstadter Tage der Fotografie, Stiftungspreis Fotokunst der Alison und Peter Klein Stiftung, Unicef Photo of the Year Award, Swiss Press Photo, and many more. Ute considers work for exhibitions, gallery shows, and publications. However, she makes no commitments during the reviews on site but comes back to these artists later.

Ute Noll is most interested in fresh and contemporary approaches, documentary and fine art. She is open and she prefers work that is strong in concept and narrative. Careful and aesthetic execution is also essential for her. She is not interested in seeing commercial, nude, or landscape photography.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: German and English

Alison Nordström
Independent Scholar, Writer and Curator
Cambridge, MA, United States

Alison Nordström is an independent scholar, writer and curator specializing in photographs of all kinds. Her long career in the field includes positions as Founding Director and Senior Curator of the Southeast Museum of Photography (FL), Senior Curator of Photographs/Director of Exhibitions at George Eastman House (NY), Artistic Director, Fotofestiwal Łodz (Poland), and a freelance practice established in 2014. She has worked extensively with photographers and photographic institutions in Europe, Asia and the Americas. She has curated over 100 photographic exhibitions in nine countries and written more than 50 essays on photography for such publishers as Aperture, Dewi Lewis, Kehrer, Damiani, Schilt, Joffy Press, Daylight, Aperture, University of Georgia Press, University of Texas Press, and for institutions including museums across North America and in Germany, England, Lithuania, Belgium, and France. She is currently a Research Associate in Photography at Harvard University. She holds the PhD in Cultural and Visual Studies.

Nordström is known for her thoughtful and useful reviews. She is particularly able to help photographers think about the role of text in projects being developed for publication. She can also offer general critique, guidance, referrals, historical context, language, funding concepts, encouragement, and inspiration. She is most interested in art, architecture, documentary, photojournalism, and conceptual undertakings, and will review coherent bodies of work whether they are completed or are works in progress. She is generally not interested in nudes or abstraction and does not feel she can be particularly helpful with fashion, advertising, or stock photography.

Image by Martin Parr

Anne Nwakalor
Founding Editor and Photo Editor
No! Wahala Magazine
Manchester, UK
nowahalamag.com

Anne Nwakalor is a British-Nigerian Photo Editor and Communications Officer within the art space. She is currently based in Manchester, UK and is the Founding Editor of one of Africa's first contemporary photography magazines, No! Wahala Magazine, which is a print photography publication championing authentic visual stories told by African creatives. Her practice developed whilst studying for a BA in Photojournalism and Documentary photography at the University of The Arts London and a Masters in Media, Ethics and Social Change at the University of Sussex. Her interests revolve around ethical storytelling within the photography space, Afrofuturism, representation, and elitism within the art world alongside a range of other topics.

Due to a background in creative writing and film, Anne tends to incorporate text and moving image into her work, creating multimedia's alongside still images. Alongside her visual practice, Anne is also a critical writer, usually writing on topics such as "Othering," "Exoticism," and Colonialism within the Photography industry. Anne frequently facilitates workshops on photography, ethical storytelling and printed media. She has sat on panels for numerous photography competitions, reviewed work at several portfolio reviews and has delivered presentations, talks and lectures at universities, exhibitions, art events and photo festivals.

Anne is currently a full time Communications Officer at Arts Council England, which is the UK government's funding body for Creativity and Culture within England.

At the Meeting Place, Anne Nwakalor is interested in reviewing Afrofuturism and documentary photography and is not interested in reviewing commercial and fashion photography.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English

Mariana Rettore Baptista
Exhibitions Manager and Curator, World Press Photo Foundation
Amsterdam, Netherlands
worldpressphoto.org

Mariana Rettore is an Exhibitions Manager and Curator at the World Press Photo Foundation in Amsterdam. She currently oversees the presentation of the annual World Press Photo exhibition in approximately 16 locations worldwide.

Prior to World Press Photo, she worked as a producer and assistant curator at the Tiradentes Photo Festival in Brazil between 2018 and 2023. In 2021, she led the coordination of an international open call for lens-based artists that culminated in an exhibition at Rotterdam Photo. For this project, she also served as a moderator, facilitating a series of webinars and discussions. Mariana has also volunteered at Galerie Huit during the 2021 edition of Les Rencontres d’Arles to help promote and organize lectures for Iandé, an international cultural
platform dedicated to Brazilian photography.

Originally from Brazil, Mariana holds a master’s degree in Global Markets and Local Creativities, with a focus on Creative Industries, awarded jointly by the University of Glasgow, Uppsala University and Erasmus University of Rotterdam. She is interested in contemporary photography and multimedia storytelling that feature a critical and creative approach. At FotoFest, she welcomes the opportunity to review contemporary photography and multimedia storytelling that feature a critical and creative approach, long-term documentary projects, documentary photography, reportage, and conceptual work. She is not interested in reviewing fashion photography or animal photography.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English, Portuguese, French, Spanish (proficient)

Maarten & Maria Louise Schilt
Founder, Publisher and Gallerist, Schilt Publishing & Gallery
Amsterdam, Netherlands
schiltpublishing.com

Schilt Publishing is a publisher of high profile journalistic, documentary and art photography books. Schilt Publishing is also the long-term publishing partner of World Press Photo. Since 2010, Schilt Publishing has co-published the Biennial catalogues of FotoFest, Houston. From 2014 on this cooperation has extended to co-publishing comprehensive overview books about the themes of the Biennials (2018: INDIA/ Contemporary Photographic and New Media Art). In the spring of 2017, a cooperation started with LensCulture, resulting in the books The Best of LensCulture Today, Volumes 1, 2 & 3. Ingram Publisher Services distributes Schilt Publishing in North America. Thames & Hudson distributes our books in all other countries of the world.

In 2013 Schilt Gallery was erected, a logical next step which provides an even broader basis in the international photography world. Spring 2017 we decided to merge the publishing house and the gallery into Schilt Publishing & Gallery.

Maarten Schilt reviews portfolios at esteemed photo festivals all over the world.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: Fluent in Dutch, English, German, and Russian (Maria Louise); adequate knowledge of French and Italian

Jaehyun SEOK
Director, ArtSpace LUMOS & Busan International Photo Festival
Daegu, Korea
artspacelumos.com

Jaehyun SEOK was born in Daegu, Korea, and completed his studies in the United States at Ohio University, majoring in Visual Communication. His career can be summarized as a photographer, professor, and curator. His experience working as a freelance photographer for The New York Times and Korean GEO brought him to where he is now.

Seok organized the Daegu Photo Biennale in 2006 with others. Moreover, he has curated many international exhibitions, including Imaging Asia in Documents (Daegu Photo Biennale, 2006); ON KOREA (Istanbul & Ankara, Turkey, 2013); Women in War (Daegu Photo Biennale, 2014); Blooming Silk Road (Seoul, Korea, 2014); Eye of Istanbul: Ara Guler (Seoul Photography Museum, 2015); Imaging Korea (traveling exhibition at venues across Europe, 2016-2018); The Glorious Life: Wang Qingsong (Seoul Photography Museum, 2019); Korean Shamanism GUT (traveling exhibition at venues across Europe, 2020-2023); ANTHROPOCENE I, II (Busan Photo Festival, 2020, 2021); Visual Narrative (Busan Phtoo Festival, 2023): and Korean Contemporary Photography: Insight into Nature and Humanity (Budapest & Rome, 2023).

He has also participated in international photo festivals such as DongGang International Photo Festival (DIPF) and Foto Istanbul as a foreign curator, receiving the Best Curator Award 3 times from DIPF. He was appointed as a nominator and jury for international photo awards such as the LEICA Oskar Barnack Award, DIPF Award (China), and Italian Vogue.

Seok is most interested in seeing well-developed bodies of work in documentary and conceptual photography.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English & Korean

Johan Sjöström
Curator of Exhibitions, Gothenburg Museum of Art
Gothenburg, Sweden
goteborgskonstmuseum.se

Johan Sjöström is the curator of exhibitions at Gothenburg Museum of Art in Sweden. The museum is one of the most important institutions for art in Scandinavia. The collections and temporary exhibitions range from Renaissance to international contemporary art, photography and new media.

Sjöström has curated some 40 museum shows with artists like Bruce Nauman, Laurie Simmons, Esko Männikkö, Isaac Julien, Julia Peirone and Yto Barrada at several Nordic museums. He has been invited to curate exhibitions, review work, and lecture at numerous international photo events, including European Central Bank Annual Photography Award, Germany; Rencontres d’Arles in France; FotoFest in Moscow, Russia; Fotofestiwal Lodz in Poland; Odense FotoTriennal in Denmark; Rhubarb-Rhubarb in Birmingham, UK; FotoBild in Berlin, Germany; Artphoto Image Festival in Bucharest, Romania; Bratislava Month of Photography in Slovakia; Skábmagovat in Inari, Finland and FotoFest in Beijing, China. He has lectured on photography at Hunter College of the City University of New York; Umea University, Sweden; Hanoi Academy of Fine Arts, Vietnam; Chung-Ang University, South Korea, Gothenburg University, Sweden, and Abo Akademi, Finland.

Sjöström is most interested in reviewing creative, conceptually oriented photography, video and new media focused on political, postcolonial and multicultural issues, postmodern landscape, and issues of gender, identity and sexuality. He is not interested in reviewing fashion, traditional documentary, classical nudes and landscapes, or commercial work.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: Swedish, English

Xavier Soule
Owner and President, Galerie VU', Agence VU’,
Paris, France
agencevu.com
galerievu.com
laboutiquevu.com

Xavier Soule is the CEO of Abvent Group, which includes Galerie VU’, the largest photography gallery in Paris, and the internationally awarded Agence VU’, which represents photojournalists around the world.

For more than 30 years, Abvent has been a leading innovator within the digital revolution in the fields of architecture, imagery and design. In 1998, Soule decided to pursue his long-standing interests in imagery and photography by opening Galerie VU' and incorporating the famous Agence VU' into the Abvent Group. Soule began his career as an architect, and as his interest in digital solutions grew, he built one of the most innovative R&D companies dedicated to CAD, ArchViz and BIM technologies. Today, Abvent keeps on innovating with amazing technologies for VR and 3D immersion, offered in more than 108 countries.

Soule, who speaks both French and English, graduated as an Architect from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris. He also holds a PhD in History of Contemporary Art and a Master’s in Sciences and Techniques for Art Preservation. He is a board member of several professional organizations, including the Sorbonne School of Arts and the Auguste Perret Association. Most recently, he served as the dean of ESA (Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture), the oldest school of architecture in France, from 2012-2013.

As a collector himself, Soule is interested in a wide array of photography. From art pieces to documentary reports, he is particularly interested in cutting-edge photojournalism and contemporary photography that offer innovative approaches to expand our visual understanding of the world, people and light.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: French, English

Allison Retina Stewart
Photo Art Director & Founder, Free Juice
Houston, Texas, United States
Freejuice.info

Allison Retina Stewart is a Houston-based photo art director, photo editor, researcher, and photographer dedicated to championing diversity in the photography industry. As the founder of Free Juice, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, she accelerates diversity through mentorship programs, partnering BIPOC students and emerging professionals with industry leaders. With a B.F.A. in Photography from Parsons School of Design, Allison is passionate about reshaping the media landscape by promoting validating representation. She has a wealth of freelance experience in photo stock buying, artist research, video production, and more, with clients including Meta, Glossier, and Live Nation. Allison's expertise extends across industries such as tech, editorial, media, sports, and advertising. Through her volunteer work, workshops, and curatorial projects, she continues to make a significant impact in the field, fostering inclusion and empowering emerging talents.

Allison is particularly interested in reviewing documentary, editorial, portraiture, and conceptual work.

Mary Virginia Swanson
Educator, Author and Advisor
Tucson, AZ, United States
mvswanson.com
@maryvirginiaswanson

Mary Virginia Swanson is an educator, author and entrepreneur in the field of photography, and a respected advisor to artists and arts organizations. Unique in our field, her broad background includes exhibiting, collecting, licensing and marketing photographs and affords her a range of perspectives on making and marketing art. Ms. Swanson counts among her consulting clients a range of internationally respected artists and institutions.

Swanson coauthored with Darius Himes the acclaimed Publish Your Photography Book: Revised & Updated (2014), and continues to stay current on the growing market for photobooks, reflecting both the relative ease of self-publishing and the rise of the collectible photographic artists book. A third edition will be shipping in June 2023.

Swanson received her MFA in Photography from Arizona State University (1979). Throughout graduate school she served as a research assistant for the Curator of Photography at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, her hometown Museum. She began her career at The Friends of Photography in Carmel, California, managing the education offerings, including an Ansel Adams Workshop. From there she moved to NYC to head Special Projects at Magnum Photos, bringing the work of their photographers to broader audiences through exhibition and publication projects.  She relocated to Tucson, Arizona in 1990 to launch Swanstock, a unique agency managing licensing rights for fine art photographers. She currently works independently, offering consulting services to artists and arts organizations, and offering her own classes and giving back to our field through educational seminars, serving as an advisor for multiple not-for-profit industry organizations, and other community-minded activities.

Barbara Tannenbaum
Curator of Photography, Cleveland Museum of Art  
Cleveland, OH
clevelandart.org

Barbara Tannenbaum is Curator of Photography at the Cleveland Museum of Art, where she has organized exhibitions of work by Tyler Mitchell, Matt Eich, Ilse Bing, Louis Draper, Hank Willis Thomas, TR Ericsson, Hank Willis Thomas, Lois Conner, Aaron Rothman, and Barbara Bosworth. Other exhibitions include DIY: Photographers & Books, the first museum show of print-on demand photobooks; American Vesuvius: The Aftermath of Mount St. Helens by Frank Gohlke and Emmet Gowin; and Detroit Disassembled: Photographs by Andrew Moore. From 1985 through 2011, Tannenbaum was chief curator at the Akron Art Museum, where she grew the photography collection from 500 to 2,500 works and organized over 85 exhibitions including the first large-scale international exhibition chronicling women’s historic achievements in fine art photography, co-curated with Naomi Rosenblum, and the 1991 Ralph Eugene Meatyard retrospective, co-curated with David Jacobs. Dr. Tannenbaum serves on the board of the Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell Foundation.

The Cleveland Museum of Art is one of the world’s top comprehensive museums and tells the story of the history of world art through masterworks. Living artists exhibited and acquired are usually mid- or late career. Dr. Tannenbaum has (hopefully sage) advice and guidance to offer artists of all levels and especially looks forward to discussing exhibition and book projects still in their development phase. She is interested in seeing many different kinds of work, but prefers not to review photography that is primarily commercial in nature. Nudity is okay as long as it is truly at the service of artistic expression.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English, French, German (some)

Alan Thomas
Editorial Director, University of Chicago Press
Chicago, IL, United States
press.uchicago.edu
alan-thomas.com

Alan Thomas is editorial director at the University of Chicago Press, where he has acquired books in the humanities since 1985, including many in photography and visual studies. Chicago’s recent books by contemporary photographers include Isa Leshko’s Allowed to Grow Old: Portraits of Elderly Animals from Farm Sanctuaries, Mary Beth Meehan’s Seeing Silicon Valley: Life Inside a Fraying America, and Julian Montague’s The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America. Most recently, Thomas has published new editions of Dream Street: W. Eugene Smith’s Pittsburgh Project and The Jazz Loft Project: Photographs and Tapes of W. Eugene Smith from 821 Sixth Avenue, 1957-1965.

Thomas writes regularly for Design Observer and contributed the essay on university presses in Publish Your Photography Book, 3rd edition, by Darius D. Himes and Mary Virginia Swanson. His own photography appears in the inaugural issue of the new literary journal Revel, in his photo book 55x5 (Marquand Editions, 2018), and elsewhere.

Thomas is most interested in reviewing documentary, historical, and conceptual projects that might resonate with a publisher’s broader non-fiction book program—for example in urban studies, sociology, geography, or environmental studies. He can advise how best to frame a photographic project for a publisher, and he enjoys helping artists identify the most promising directions for their work. He will be less helpful to photographers working in abstraction or with alternative processes, or seeking gallery representation, and he is not interested in commercial, fashion, or stock photography.

Catherine Troiano
Curator of Photography, Victoria and Albert Museum
London, UK
vam.ac.uk

Dr. Catherine Troiano is Curator of Photography at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (V&A). The V&A is home to one of the world’s most important photography collections numbering over 800,000 items spanning the 1820s to the present day – and the V&A Photography Centre, the largest space for photography in the UK. Troiano was previously Assistant Curator of Photography at the V&A, and National Curator of Photography at the National Trust. She has worked on major V&A projects, including the transfer of the Royal Photographic Society Collection (2016-17) and the two-phase launch of the V&A Photography Centre (2018-23). Troiano has curated or contributed to several displays and exhibitions at the V&A and elsewhere, and she publishes and presents regularly on aspects of contemporary photography, digital culture, curatorial practice, and institutional history. She holds an MA in History of Art (University of Edinburgh) and a PhD in Visual Culture (Photographic History Research Centre, De Montfort University, Leicester).

Troiano leads the digital programme in the Photography Section at the V&A and co-curates its contemporary programme, which include acquisitions, exhibitions, commissions, and research. She is most interested in reviewing work that is cohesive, clearly articulated, and aware of the historical and contemporary environments within which it exists. She is open to a range of practice that engages with the cultural, social and political contexts of photography – including, but not limited to, straight, conceptual, or experimental approaches – and she is interested in varied formats, from print-based photographs to digital or new media practice. She is happy to see work in progress as well as finished projects, and, as a museum curator, she can be helpful in identifying curatorial strategies or in thinking about how to situate contemporary photography in relation to histories of the medium. She is not interested in seeing fashion photography, classical nudes or abstractions, nostalgic imagery, and commercial work.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English, Italian, Hungarian

Anne Wilkes Tucker
Curator Emerita of Photography
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA
www.mfah.org

Anne Wilkes Tucker is Curator Emerita of Photography at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, where she founded the photography department in 1976. The museum’s collection now comprises 30,000 photographs made on all seven continents.

Ms. Tucker has curated more than forty exhibitions, including retrospectives of the work of Brassaï, Louis Faurer, Robert Frank, George Krause, Ray K. Metzker, Chen Changfen, and Richard Misrach, as well as important surveys, including ones on the Czech Avant Garde, contemporary Korean Photography, a history of Japanese Photography and WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY: Photographs of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath. Most of these exhibitions were accompanied by publications.

She has also published many articles and lectured throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. She has been awarded fellowships by the National Endowment for the Arts, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the Getty Center. She received an Alumnae Achievement Award from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College; Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Griffin Museum of Photography and from the Houston Fine Arts Fair; and in 2001, TIME magazine listed her as America’s Best Curator in an issue devoted to “America’s Best”.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English

Gary Van Zante
Curator of Architecture, Design and Photography, MIT Museum
Boston, Massachusetts
mitmuseum.mit.edu

Gary Van Zante has been curator at the MIT Museum since 2002, where he has also been interim Director of Exhibitions, Director of the Wolk Gallery and, since 2012, curator of the Kurtz Gallery for Photography. His exhibitions in the Kurtz Gallery have ranged from American daguerreotype portraiture, Bauhaus photography and monographic exhibitions on György Kepes and Berenice  Abbott, to contemporary photography of place. He curated the first American solo exhibitions for many European photographers including Joël Tettamanti, Gabriele Basilico, Patrick Tourneboeuf, Mila Teshiaeva, Júlio de Matos, and
Ulrich Wüst.

Van Zante has recently been visiting research professor at the University of Paris VII Diderot. He has been contributing curator for exhibitions at the Photography Collection/August Sander Archive, Cologne; the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow; Huis Marseilles photography museum, Amsterdam; Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, VA; and the New Orleans Museum of Art.

Van Zante is especially interested in photography of place, urban and architectural photography, and scientific photography. He has published articles and books on these topics, including a monograph on the nineteenth century photographer Theodore Lilienthal (Merrell, 2008); essays on the photographers Berenice Abbott (Mapfre, 2019; Ryerson Image Centre, 2022); Harold Edgerton (Steidl, 2019); and on Polaroid photography (Thames & Hudson, 2017). His monograph on the Berlin photographer Ulrich Wüst (Kerber, 2022) was recently recognized with an honorable mention in the annual book prize for 2023 of the Photography Network, College Art Association. His latest publication is an essay on the work of German photographers Ute and Werner Mahler (Ein Dorf 1950–2022, Hartmann, 2024).

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English

Asha Iman Veal
Associate Curator, Museum of Contemporary Photography
Chicago, IL, United States
mocp.org

Asha Iman Veal is Associate Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Photography. Her exhibitions Beautiful Diaspora/You Are Not the Lesser Part and LOVE: Still Not the Lesser brought together cross-diasporic conversations between global artists Xyza Bacani, Widline Cadet, Sunil Gupta, Ngadi Smart, and more; and celebrations of love and desire by Jorian Charlton, Jess T. Dugan, Mous Lamrabat, and others.

She has curated exhibitions for the Chicago Architecture Biennial, and more. Her biennial exhibition and radio-broadcast series RAISIN vol 1. commissioned several new artworks and generated community among more than 30 global artists including Işıl Eğrikavuk, Amanda Williams, and Tintin Wulia; and was featured by international cultural organizations such as Pakhuis de Zwijger Amsterdam and Istituto Italiano di Cultura Chicago. Veal has worked on projects and/or arts research in the United States, Asia, Europe, and South America.

Asha Iman is additionally Associate Professor Adj at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she's expanded direct curricular links to global arts and culture discourses by inviting and hosting more than 100 virtual and in-person discussions with guests such as Yane Calovski and Hristina Ivanoska, the late Bisi Silva, and ballet dancer, movement adviser for robot technology David Ennio Minor. Additionally, Veal bridges interdisciplinary relationships between the arts, government, corporate, and nonprofit sectors through her role as a Senior Fellow of Humanity in Action (EU/UK/US), BMW Foundation Responsible Leader, and Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ Emerging Leader. Veal was a board member at Experimental Sound Studio.

Asha Iman is not interested in reviewing sex scenes or nudes that are intended to satisfy the photographer's own social fetish.
NOTE FROM MEETING PLACE STAFF: Photographers, if this is the type of work you intend to show, please email Sarah Ansell to let her know so she can ensure that you will not receive an appointment with Asha.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English

Lisa Volpe
Associate Curator, The Museum of Fine Arts
Houston, TX, United States
mfah.org

Lisa Volpe is the Associate Curator, Photography at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Before arriving in Houston, she was the Curator of the Wichita Art Museum where she oversaw all areas of the museum's collection. Additionally, she held various curatorial roles at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA), and fellowships at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Lisa does not wish to see nudes and pure landscapes.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English

Manfred Zollner
Editor in Chief, fotoMAGAZIN
Hamburg, Germany
www.Website.com

Mr. Zollner has a degree in Mass Communications from Munich University and began his career as a film critic, working for various German film magazines. Since 1991 he has devoted himself entirely to photography. He started working for fotoMAGAZIN that year as Director of Photography. From 2003 till 2006 he was Editor in Chief of the bi-monthly magazine Photo Technik International (now published as Photo International). He returned to fotoMAGAZIN in 2006 as Deputy Editor in Chief and has taken over the position as Editor in Chief at the beginning of 2019.

Since 2012 he´s also the Editor of the annual fine art photography publication fotoMAGAZIN EDITION. In addition to his editorial work, Mr. Zollner is a regular contributor of essays to international photo book projects.

Manfred is interested in any kind of photographic work, as long as it shows an individual, creative and clever approach.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: German, English, French