FotoFest: Artist-Run, Artist-Organized

• Sat, Oct 5, 2024 - Sat, Nov 16, 2024  9am - 5pm On view
• Saturday, Oct 5, 2024  2pm - 4pm Public Opening

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FotoFest is pleased to announce the juried winning proposals of artist groups La Mecha Contemporary (El Paso, TX), Omnigenesis (Austin, Dallas, Denton, San Antonio, TX), and Throughline Collective (Houston, TX) will be realized for FotoFest’s fall exhibition, Artist-run, Artist-organized. Each artist group will receive support to produce an exhibition that will fill one-third of FotoFest’s exhibition space at Silver Street Studios, plus program and promotional backing.

FotoFest will present the discrete exhibitions at its Sawyer Yards campus between October 5 and November 16, 2024. In addition to an opening day reception on Saturday, October 5, from 2 to 4 PM, each artist group will lead two programs accompanying their project, including artist talks, curatorial tours, and interactive performances that engage audience members.

Artist-run, Artist-organized speaks to FotoFest’s mission by supporting Texas-based artists and placing them in the international context of FotoFest’s programming and audience reach. Since its founding, FotoFest has supported Texas-based artists, including nine across its recent Biennial 2024 central exhibitions, Critical Geography and Ten by Ten.

The free exhibition call for Artist-run, Artist-organized, announced in March 2024, sought project proposals from artist-run spaces, collectives, and networked groups of artists based in Texas. The submission required a concept for a group exhibition utilizing image-based media—at least 50% film, photography, video, AI, computer-generated images, and/or light-based work—as part of their practice.

The call was juried by independent curators Leslie Moody Castro, Roberta “Nina” Hassele, and Kevin Rubén Jacobs, with Fotofest executive director Steven Evans. The groups and artists featured in Artist-run, Artist-organized include:

La Mecha Contemporary

Marissa Baez
Grace McCoy
Yashoda Latkar

Omnigenesis

Melanie Clemmons
Ashley Gillanders
Zak Loyd
Paho Mann
Christopher Meerdo
David Stout
Holly Veselka
Rodell Warner

Throughline Collective

Beatriz Bellorín
Carolina Borja
Angela Chen
Jonas Criscoe
Margaux Crump
Luisa Duarte

Jake Eshelman
Jeanette “Joy” Harris
Heather L. Johnson 
Cindee Travis Klement
Molly Koehn
Colleen Maynard and Mark Chen

Carolina Otero
Ellen H Ray
JR Roykovich
Alexander Squier
Sarah Sudhoff

Artist-run, Artist-organized is co-organized by FotoFest manager of communications and engagement Asaeda Badat and exhibitions manager Chris Wicker and was originally conceived by former curator and director of publishing Max Fields.

Featured Artwork : Zak Loyd and Melanie Clemmons (Omnigenesis), Heaven (detail of Hamburger), 2023. From the series Trophy Club Nissan, 2023. Aluminum Dibond UV Prints. Courtesy of the artists and Liliana Bloch Gallery.