Comeback: LACP’s Eighth Annual Members’ Exhibition, 2022

About

This virtual exhibition will explore what does it mean to be together again at a moment of great uncertainty, and how do ideas of returning, gathering and sharing space and time together may drive creativity. Comeback will present works by LACP members that consider shifts and transformations in how we are present and absent in our worlds, re-discovering ourselves, our communities and creative voices.

The Juror

Samantha Johnston has been the Executive Director and Curator at the Colorado Photographic Arts Center since 2015. She holds a certificate in Arts Development and Program Management from the University of Denver, an MFA from Lesley University College of Art & Design, and a BFA from Alfred University. Prior to joining CPAC, she taught photography and visual arts for 12 years at high schools in Boston and Denver.

She has curated exhibitions with contemporary artists such as Jess T. Dugan, Daniel Coburn, Barbara Ciurej & Lindsay Lochman, and Zora Murff. Samantha has served as a reviewer at Houston FotoFest, Review Santa Fe, PhotoPlus New York, Medium, Month of Photography (MoP), and Filter. She has juried several exhibitions including Critical Mass and The Fence.

She is a longtime member of the Society for Photographic Education, and served as Treasurer of the Southwest region from 2013-2016 and Co-Chair of SPE’s 2013 Southwest regional conference in Denver.She was named one of Colorado’s Top 100 Creatives 3.0 by Westword and has been featured in Lenscratch.

Juror Statement

For this year’s Annual Members Show presented by Los Angeles Center of Photography the theme was Comeback. The exhibition call for entry asked artists to consider how we navigate our current times with still unpredictable conditions and begin to once again co-exist with various people, places, and experiences. I had the tremendous task of narrowing down over 1,000 images to a selection of 30 artists for this virtual exhibit. As I went through each image, I found myself considering how photography both reflects and informs perspectives, how everyone’s experience was different as we entered quarantine over two years ago and continue to navigate two years later. I found my imagination opening up to the endless ideas of how we move through powerful periods of change and in doing so practice re-connecting.

For me, this selection of 30 images represents candid moments with family, quiet fragments, feelings of loss, escape, and found happiness. Two years ago, our lives were profoundly transformed. Each of us now asked to confront our true comfort level with gathering again and evaluating how we create. And for artists, how their creative practice has possibly been impacted or influenced.

What do we want our future to look like as we discuss “coming back”? Is it something new? A return to normal? What discoveries will these images inspire?

Exhibiting Artists

Debra Achen, Jennifer Armour, Lynne Breitfeller, Richard Chow, Bridget Conn, Karen Constine, Norma Córdova, Tielin Ding, Dean Forbes, Fran Forman, Karen Glenn, Rohina Hoffman, Susan Rosenberg Jones, Paul Kessel, Elizabeth Libert, Suz Lipman, Shari Yantra Marcacci, Debbie Miracolo, Gabriella Muttone, Rita Nannini, Natalie Obermaier, Laurie Peek, Osceola Refetoff, Charlotte Schmid, Aline Smithson, Jane Szabo, John Waiblinger, Evan Williams, Jonas Yip and Carl Young