Expand and Contract: Notes about American Documentary Photography in the 21st Century – In-Person Reception RSVP
- Saturday
July 25, 2026
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
This third edition of Expand and Contract focuses on American photography today, asking how documentary perspectives were shaped by larger societal, technological and geopolitical shifts of the first quarter of the twenty-first century. This exhibition offers a modest and earnest attempt to consider how America sees itself, what it highlights and what might be missing from the frame, beginning with the turn of the century and 9/11, exploring protests, conditions of living, and the aftermath of wildfires.
FREE with RSVP
© Photo by Susan Meiselas, Monument built in 1849 marking the division of the US and Mexico, Tijuana beach, Tijuana, Mexico, 2018
About
Exhibiting Artists
Timothy Eastman | Kelly Fogel | Isadora Kosofsky | Susan Meiselas | Keva Rosenfeld | John Senese | Eric Smith | Marcus Ubungen | Evan Williams
Curator
Dr. Rotem Rozental, Los Angeles Center of Photography Executive Director and Chief Curator.
Opening Reception (In-Person)
July 25, 3 – 5pm with a walkthrough at 3:30pm RSVP BELOW
Exhibition Run Dates (In-Person)
July 25 – September 12, 2026
About
This third edition of Expand and Contract focuses on American photography today, now that the first quarter of the twenty-first century has drawn to a close. It asks whether this first quarter-century of photographic production has characteristics shaped by larger societal, technological and geopolitical shifts. This is not an attempt to offer a sweeping view of documentary photography in the US in recent decades. Rather, this exhibition is a modest and earnest attempt to consider how America sees itself, what it highlights and what might be missing from the frame, beginning with the turn of the century and 9/11, exploring protests, conditions of living, and the aftermath of wildfires.
Documentary is a complex field of practice, which has a deep (and at times contentious) relationship with representation or the lack thereof. This exhibition suggests such tensions should be highlighted, as well as the ways in which photographers capture their own communities and stories now.
Susan Meiselas takes the viewer to the border, creating its physical presence in the space with a photographic mural, shown alongside compilations of videos grabbed from social media and other digital sources, depicting deportations and conflicts with ICE agents. Isadora Kosofsky looks at the lives of families with incarcerated parents at twelve men’s and women’s prisons in Florida. Eric Smith has been chronicling the protests in Los Angeles, between 2016-2026, beginning with the first Trump presidency. Marcus Ubungen has been returning to Altadena to capture portraits of residents, and the incongruities between incomprehensible devastation and persistent rebuilding efforts.
Filmmaker Keva Rosenfeld’s intimate Polaroid portraits of some of the most famous people in the world capture a culture in transition, triggered by the rise of digital technology. John Senese shares a never-before-seen series about the World Trade Center and 9/11, depicting a world shifting forever in front of the lens.
In All the Past We Leave Behind, Timothy Eastman chronicles the lives of Workampers, people who typically live in an RV and navigate—physically and figuratively—temporary and seasonal jobs. The twenty-first century birthed the gig economy, and Eastman’s portraits capture a specific subset of this fractured economy, of a life experienced on the fringes, a domain occupied by rebels, adventurers, and those who decided to redefine economic possibility after the system failed them again and again.
During a photoshoot in Las Vegas, Kelly Fogel suggested the performers would use a video camera while being photographed, creating playful portraits that complicate further ideas around documentation, reflection and self-presentation for the camera. Back in SoCal, she embarked on an ongoing project, capturing housekeepers in the homes they care for. Both series raise questions about displaying an authentic self in domestic and public environments, as well as labor and connection with one’s community—issues that are also entangled with inequity on and off stages, in and out of houses.
Evan Williams seeks to bring the spirit of street photography of the last century to the present. He has been documenting smaller town across Florida, tracing what distinguishes and characterizes each place. At a local bank in Lewiston, he came across a mural that captures an idyllic image of a past defined by conflict and nature’s sublime presence; a past that probably never existed; a fantasy held in a financial institution, a space that determines the fate and outcomes of the American dream.
Back to Show page HERE.
Tickets
Admission is FREE. Please RSVP below. Suggested Donation HERE
Details
- Date: Saturday, July 25, 3 – 5pm with a walkthrough at 3:30pm PST
- Free and Open to the Public
- Location: Downtown Los Angeles (LACP Headquarters), 252 S. Los Angeles St., Los Angeles, CA 90012.
- Parking: Street parking, Public parking: Terasaki Budokan Recreation Center (paid, underground, just across the street from LACP) and Joe’s Auto Parks Parking, 330 Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90013 (paid, surface).
If you have additional questions please email info@lacphoto.org.