Daniel Aycock
Founder and Director, Front Room Gallery
New York City, NY, United States
frontroomles.com

Daniel Aycock is the Director of Front Room Gallery, which he founded in 1999 in New York. Since its inception, the Front Room has been dedicated to exhibiting artwork by emerging and mid-career artists with concentration in photography, drawing, conceptual art, video, audio art, sculpture and installation. The Front Room presents work that is innovative in practice and concept and challenges social perceptions while establishing a context to the familiar.

Daniel Aycock has curated exhibitions internationally, at universities, museums, artist residencies and art fairs. Aycock has been the invited guest juror and critic for ASMP, School of Visual Arts, International Studio Curatorial Project, FotoFest, and many others. In 2001, he started WAGMAG, Brooklyn Art Guide, a monthly printed publication listing all of the arts institutions in Brooklyn. He received his BFA in Photography from Texas Tech University and his Master’s Degree from the School of Visual Arts.

Aycock is not interested in reviewing nudes.

Nadine Barth
Director, barthouse
Berlin, Germany
barthouse.de

Nadine Barth is a curator, editor, and art advisor. With her agency barthouse, founded in 2006, she cultivates publications, organizes exhibitions and cultural events while working for companies, publishers, galleries, museums, and other institutions. Recent exhibitions curated by Nadine Barth include "Ellen von Unwerth: Devotion – Thirty Years of Photographing Women" at Fotografiska Stockholm, as well as the brand new Fotografiska New York, and "Bling Bling Baby!" for NRW-Forum Dusseldorf and Museum Hilversum, Amsterdam. With her expertise, she has been involved in over 100 art books to date. Recent publications include "Inez & Vinoodh: I See You in Everything" (2019) and "This Place" (2019) featuring works by Wendy Ewald, Stephen Shore, Thomas Struth, and Jeff Wall, among others. Nadine Barth also heads the photography program for the art publisher Hatje Cantz.

Barth is interested in reviewing landscape, cityscape, and documentary photography with a strong visual language. She likes fashion photography when it flirts with art without becoming too commercial. She is not interested in conceptual abstract works, photoshop experiments, videos, or nudes.

She can provide curatorial insight for portfolios and book projects, guidance on the art market, and in the best case scenario, opportunities to take part in exhibitions.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: German, English

Alexa Becker
Freelance Representative, Kehrer Verlag
Heidelberg, Germany
kehrerverlag.com
alexabecker.de

Alexa Becker is a Freelance Representative for photography and art books for Kehrer Verlag, a Germany-based publisher founded in 1995. After earning her Master's in Art History from the University of Heidelberg, she started her career at Kehrer in 2003, where she is responsible for selecting and acquiring new photography-related projects. Mrs. Becker provides artistic and marketing advice for photographers concerning the content and style of their work at several international portfolio reviews. She enjoys helping photographers and others appreciate the special qualities present in their work, in particular discovering novel, genuine visions of the world.

Mrs. Becker offers the point of view of a European art book publisher and is familiar with the overall art and photography market. She is also a freelance consultant, advising and coaching photographers independently.

Mrs. Becker is very open to all kinds of photography with meaningful content. She is not interested in reviewing commercial work or nudes.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English, German

Mary Bisbee-Beek
Founder & Director
READ/SEE A Unique Perspective - Publicity and Marketing Consulting
Portland, OR
marybisbeebeek.com

Mary Bisbee-Beek has worked in book publishing for the greater part of 40+ years, with added experience as a photo archivist at The Oakland Museum, and the director of The Cartoon Art Museum in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a book publicist, her clients often include photographers, as well as poets, literary novelists, and creative non-fiction authors.

In addition to book publicity, the Read/See office actively concentrates on Publishing Sherpa services which help authors and photographers gain perspective about audience, publishers, and strategic next steps whilst they are planning a publication project. The Sherpa often makes introductions to editors, writers, and potentially interesting associations with publishers and event venues.

Bisbee-Beek is open to all genres of work including social documentary work, art photography and nature photography. Her feedback centers on a portfolio’s content, focusing on editorial and publishing advice with an eye toward publication and possibly exhibition.

Clients have included Phaidon Publishing, Schilt Publishing, Kehrer Verlag clients, University of Georgia clients and other independent entities.

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

Xavier Canonne
Director, Musée de la Photographie
Charleroi, Belgium
museephoto.be

Xavier Canonne is Director of the Musée de la Photographie in Charleroi, Belgium. He graduated from the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium, and received a doctorate in Art History and Archeology from the Sorbonne in Paris, writing his thesis on Surrealism in Belgium from 1950-1993. Canonne has managed his career in several fields between passion and professionalism: as an author, an artist, a publisher, an art history (cinema) professor, and as Curator and Director.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: French, English, Spanish

Juan Curto 
Director, Camara Oscura Galeria de Arte 
Madrid, Spain 
camaraoscura.net 

At the Meeting Place, Juan Curto is interested in reviewing fine art photography and artistic projects. He is not interested in reviewing nudes, amateur photography, street photography, travel photography, architecture photography, event photography and AI images. 

Mia Dalglish & Lisa Woodward
Co-Curators, Pictura Gallery at The FAR
Bloomington, IN
thefar.org/pictura-gallery

Lisa Woodward and Mia Dalglish work collaboratively as Co-Curators for Pictura Gallery, a non-profit contemporary photography space housed in the FAR Center for Contemporary Arts in Bloomington, IN. They have worked together for 14 years, producing a wide range of exhibitions and advising photographers through different phases of their careers.

Dalglish and Woodward are open to projects with the capacity to push past the boundaries of the frame and into broader installations. Pictura looks for opportunities to pair its photography shows with other creative mediums for some unexpected collaborations with poets, chefs, dancers, musicians, etc.

What they would like to see: excellent craft, a balance of aesthetic and conceptual concerns, emotionally meaningful work with well-considered ideas. Of lesser interest: still life projects of personal artifacts from the past, nudes, and strictly commercial work. They can offer critique and feedback to strengthen work aesthetically and conceptually. They can sort a new edit for consideration and help talk through ideas for display. Projects do not need to be completed to be considered but must show a high degree of thought and cohesion.

Woodward and Dalglish are looking for exceptional projects for the gallery’s 2025 exhibition programming and the Curious blog. If the work is a good fit for the gallery, exhibition opportunities may be offered at a later date. They welcome reviewees to bring any specific questions or goals to their session.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English

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

Hernease Davis
Assistant Curator of Education and Public Programs
Visual Studies Workshop
Rochester, NY
vsw.org

Hernease Davis joined the Visual Studies Workshop (VSW) as Assistant Curator in 2021. VSW, founded in 1969, nurtures experimental and expansive approaches to photography and media arts, and builds community among artists and the public through exhibitions, publications and esidencies. Hernease develops  programming that focuses on contemporary conversations in the photographic arts.

Hernease is most interested in reviewing works that push the boundaries of photography and use the medium as an expressive form. She is most interested in abstraction, alternative processes, the use of vernacular, photography that incorporates other mediums, and expansive approaches to traditional genres (i.e. landscape, portraiture, documentary, still life, etc). She is particularly interested in subjects around autobiography, diasporic community conversations, immigration, migration and de-colonialism. Hernease is also an actively exhibiting photo-based artist, and is open to reviewing ongoing, unfinished bodies of work that would benefit from discussions around exhibition or process strategies.

Arturo Delgado
Curator, ALMANAQUE fotográfica
Mexico City, Mexico
almanaquefotografica.com

Arturo Delgado is the founder, director and curator of ALMANAQUE-fotográfica, an art gallery and contemporary art agency dedicated to contemporary photography and its
intersections with the arts, presenting more than 40 international awarded artists in more than 20 exhibitions, collaborating with museums and institutions including the Victoria & Albert Museum London, Centro de la Imagen Museum, IPC, Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Mexico as well as numerous magazines including Aperture, Photography is Art Honk Kong and Aesthetica. Almanaque’s group show “Gender Blurred,” curated by Arturo, was nominated “Best International Photography Gallery Exhibition” at the Lucie Photo Awards NYC.

Delgado studied Law and holds postgraduate degrees in Critical Studies of Visual Arts, Cultural Management, Literature, and a Masters in Contemporary Arts from the Australian National University. Prior to working as a cultural promoter for the last 15 years, Delgado was a diplomat, an attaché to Mexico while in Australia, Director of the Centro Cultural del Bosque, and Head of Office for Mexico’s Undersecretary of Culture.

In addition to authoring many articles, Delgado has also written a book, titled Horror al vacío: (arte contemporáneo en ciudades variegated), which was published in 2017 with the Textofilia publishing house. The book was presented at the Tamayo and the Guadalajara International Book Fair in 2017. His contemporary art radio magazine, Lo Sonado, which was broadcast for five years on Horizonte 107.9 FM of the Mexican Institute of Radio, won him the first place award of the International Radio Mexico Biennial in 2006. He has also been a professor at the Centro and CIDE universities in Mexico City.

Arturo is particularly interested in reviewing new media, expanded photography, photo-sculpture, abstraction, and staged photography, as well as series previously shown at museums, institutions or galleries, single works, and awarded series and portfolios. He is not interested in reviewing photo books, travel photography, or personal diaries.

Crista Dix
Executive Director, Griffin Museum of Photography
Winchester, MA
griffinmuseum.org

Crista Dix is the Executive Director of the Griffin Museum of Photography, assuming that role in January of 2022 after two years as the museum's Associate Director. The Griffin Museum of Photography produces approximately fifty exhibitions annually in its Winchester and satellite galleries across New England. In 2024 the museum has created new  residency programs, scholarships and public art projects as part of the  museum’s mission to enhance our connection to photography and outreach to our artists, patrons and public.

Before coming to the Griffin Museum in 2020, Ms. Dix spent fifteen years operating her own photography gallery, wall space creative, closing it in 2020 to make the move to New England and the Griffin. In addition to curating exhibitions and mentoring photographers, she has written essays about photography, been a member of panels and discussions on the craft, juried creative competitions, and has participated in major portfolio reviews across the country.

The Griffin Museum is thrilled to be looking toward the future of contemporary works and projects revolving around photography. Our exhibition programs aim to bring photography off the walls supporting experiential and immersive projects. Ms. Dix is open to view all types of photography, including moving images, installation and public projects. She is open to providing feedback on projects not yet completed and answering questions concerning next steps for projects or series not yet realized.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English

Kathy Dowell
Director, Arts and Humanities Programming, Mid-America Arts Alliance
Kansas City, MO, United States
maaa.org

With over twenty-five years of creative and cultural production experience, Kathy Aron Dowell has worked as a museum director, curator, public art advisor, and large-scale cultural events producer. She joined Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA) in 2013 as the Director of Arts and Humanities Programming where she directs all curatorial affairs for the organization, including oversight of its national touring exhibition program, ExhibitsUSA, as well as public art consulting services, curating the organization’s Culture Lab, and the development of pilot and strategic initiatives.

For over 50 years M-AAA has supported artists, cultural organizations, and communities throughout our six-state region and beyond. The ExhibitsUSA (EUSA) program has more than 25 exhibitions touring throughout the country at any given time; with a roster of projects that encompass fine art, craft, folk art, photography, history, design, and
fashion.

M-AAA is especially committed to enriching the cultural life of historically underserved communities by providing high quality, meaningful, and accessible arts and culture programs and services for venues throughout the United States. A such, Mrs. Dowell is most interested in reviewing fully developed, bodies of work suitable for thematically-driven exhibitions that offer numerous opportunities for community engagement and dialogue. She is not interested in projects that are deeply coded and/or abstract.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English

Louise Fedotov-Clements
Director, Photoworks
Brighton, United Kingdom
photoworks.org.uk

Louise Fedotov-Clements is the Director of Photoworks, an international platform established in 1995 that focuses on the development of photography and related media through a program of exhibitions, residencies, publications, awards, engagement and a biennial photography festival. Photoworks is a registered charity and an Arts Council NPO. She is the Co-Founder and former Director of FORMAT Festival (2004-2022) and previously the Artistic Director of QUAD, a centre for contemporary art and film (2002-2022). Currently, she is also acting National Curator of Contemporary Art at Forestry England, the largest land manager in the UK caring for over 1500 forests. In this role, she is also Co-Director of Earth Photo, a major project co-founded in 2018 by Forestry England, the Royal Geographical Society, and Parker Harris.

As an independent art director, curator, writer and producer since 1998, Fedotov-Clements has been directing commissions, publications, performances and exhibitions worldwide. She has served as guest curator for several international exhibitions and festivals, including Dong Gang (Yeongwol) South Korea; Photoquai Biennale, Musée du quai Branly, Paris; Les Rencontres Arles, Discoveries; Dali Photo, China; Venice Biennale EM15; Photo Beijing; LishuiPhoto, China; and Korea International Photo Festival. She is a Patron and Steering Group member of FORMAT International Photography Festival, an Advisory Board Member for Archivo, and Vice Chair of Inspirate. In addition to these roles, she has served as a nominator for many international awards, has contributed to numerous publications as a writer and/or editor, and is a regular juror, portfolio reviewer, and speaker throughout Europe, America, Africa & Asia.

Fedotov-Clements is open to seeing all works in any medium or genre, at any stage of development, and is keen to see all practitioners at any stage of their career. She loves meeting a broad variety of photographers. During the review, she can offer a supportive point of view, guidance on addressing challenges and achieving ambitions in creative practices, and advice on strategies, including the practical and conceptual considerations around preparing works for exhibition and a wide variety of other contexts. She is less interested to see travel, advertising, stock, or fine art nude photography.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English

Burt Finger
Director and Co-Owner. PDNB Gallery
Dallas, Texas
pdnbgallery.com

Burt Finger is the Gallery Director and Co-Owner of Photographs Do Not Bend Gallery (PDNB Gallery) in Dallas, Texas. He and his wife, Missy, opened this gallery in 1995.

Before 1995 Burt was a private dealer in photography and antique watches. Prior to this, Mr. Finger has had many interests and careers. He served a tour-of-duty in Vietnam (1969) as an Officer in the Corps of Engineers. During his time in Vietnam, he met and worked with the famous photojournalist, Larry Burrows, who influenced his future in photography. When Mr. Finger returned to Dallas he pursued photojournalism. While he was a photographer in the 1970’s, he studied art and exhibited in various galleries in Texas including the Contemporary Art Museum in Houston. His work is included in the MFAH permanent collection. Burt also taught photography at North Texas State University (currently Univ. of North Texas). He and his wife began collecting photography in the 1990’s.

Mr. Finger’s current position as Gallery Director involves curatorial duties, appraisals, and corporate, museum and private sales. He has created well over 200 exhibitions including the milestone shows, “SHINE”, featuring antique shoeshine boxes, and vintage shoeshine themed photographs; “Pictures of Me”; and “Texas Bauhaus”. He also organizes exhibitions outside the gallery for non-profit galleries. In recent years he has appeared as a photography appraiser on the acclaimed PBS program, Antiques Roadshow.

Jennifer Friess
Associate Curator of Photography, University of Michigan Museum of Art
Ann Arbor, MI, United States
umma.umich.edu

Biography Forthcoming

Sarah Gilbert
Features Photo Editor, The Guardian
London, UK
theguardian.com

Sarah Gilbert is features photo editor for the Guardian with over 20 years experience as an editor. Previously, she was a picture editor at Conde Nast and spent several years as the Guardian US Photo Editor. She has been a juror on a number of leading photography competitions, conducts portfolio reviews at international photo festivals, was a mentor on the Women Photograph programme, and guest lectures at the London College of Communication.

Her specific areas of interest include portraiture and photo-documentary projects, and photo essays that focus on social, economic and climate issues, especially from up and coming artists. She is not interested in reviewing fashion photography. Otherwise, she is always seeking to be surprised!

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English

Mary Goodwin
Co-founder, Aurora PhotoCenter
Publisher, Waltz Books
Indianapolis, IN, United States
auroraphoto.org
waltzbooks.com
marygoodwin.net

Mary Goodwin is the cofounder of Aurora PhotoCenter, a nonprofit organization that supports creativity through photography since 2019.
Serving as a creative hub, Aurora elevates the photographic arts through exhibitions, residencies, workshops, talks, and access to creative tools for practicing artists. Located in Indianapolis, Indiana, Aurora PhotoCenter is a bridge between local artists and the greater photographic community, with a regional, national, and international scope. Aurora’s programming
has featured the work of artists including Tarrah Krajnak, Kris Graves, Rebecca Norris Webb, Adam Ekberg, and Keliy Anderson-Staley, among others.

Goodwin is also the publisher at Waltz Books, a photobook publishing company with a focus on the relationship between the photographic image and the book format since 2012. As the former associate Director at Light Work in Syracuse, New York, she has curated exhibitions by Deana Lawson, Yolanda del Amo, and Stephen Chalmers, among other artists.

Goodwin can offer feedback on the clarity and strengths of specific images, edits, and sequencing choices, as well as more general advice on the exhibition and publication of projects.

Ann M. Jastrab
Center for Photographic Art
Carmel, CA
photography.org

Ann M. Jastrab is the Executive Director at the Center for Photographic Art (CPA) in Carmel, California. CPA strives to advance photography through education, exhibition and publication. These regional traditions—including mastery of craft, the concept of mentorship, and dedication to the photographic arts—evolved out of CPA's predecessor, the renowned Friends of Photography established in 1967. While respecting these West Coast traditions, CPA is also at the vanguard of the future of photographic imagery.

Before coming onboard at CPA, Ann worked as the gallery director at RayKo Photo Center in San Francisco for 10 years until their closure in 2017. While being a champion of artists, she created a thriving artist-in-residence program at RayKo where multiple residents, including Meghann Riepenhoff, Carlos Javier Ortiz, Kathya Marie Landeros, and McNair Evans, all received Guggenheim Fellowships. Ann was also the gallery manager at Scott Nichols Gallery in San Francisco where she incorporated contemporary artists with the legends photography.

Ann is interested in seeing all types of photography, especially documentary projects, alternative and historical process work, work by LGBTQ+ artists, landscape projects,  and traditional film based photography. She can offer exhibition opportunities as well as other support for artists.

Samantha Johnston
Executive Director and Curator, Colorado Photographic Arts Center
Denver, CO, United States
cpacphoto.org
denvermop.org

Samantha Johnston has been the Executive Director and Curator at the Colorado Photographic Arts Center (CPAC) 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 Denver (MOP), Filter, and PhotoLucida. She has juried several exhibitions including Critical Mass and The Fence.

CPAC is a not-for-profit organization that is dedicated to fostering the understanding and appreciation of photography in all forms and concepts through exhibitions, education, and community outreach. It has been in operation for 60 years. CPAC also organizes the Month of Photography Denver (MOP) a biennial festival that celebrates the photographic medium through public exhibitions, events, and programs at more than 75 museums, galleries, and other participating spaces across the Denver Metro region.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English

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

Maria L. Kelly
Associate Curator of Photography, High Museum of Art
Atlanta, GA, United States
high.org

Maria L. Kelly is the Assistant Curator of Photography at the High Museum of Art. She served as the curatorial assistant in the photography department from 2011 to 2016, returning to the Museum in 2019 after completing her master’s degree. During her time at the High, Maria has helped organize more than twenty-five photography installations. Her exhibitions include Tyler Mitchell: Extended Play (2024), Underexposed: Women Photographers from the Collection (2021), What Is Near: Reflections on Home (2016), Helen Levitt: In the Street (2015), and Leonard Freed: Black in White America (2014). She was the venue curator for the traveling exhibitions Deana Lawson (2022) and André Kertész: Postcards from Paris (2022). Maria has also guest curated exhibitions at Columbus State University and the Swan Coach House Gallery.

Maria earned an M.A. from Columbia University and a B.A. from the University of Georgia, both in art history. She has held positions at The Sir Elton John Photography Collection and the Brooklyn Museum and internships at The Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Georgia Museum of Art.

She is most interested in reviewing work by emerging and established artists looking for dialogue for in-progress or recently completed bodies of work with a strong conceptual element. Maria has particular interest in work employing alternative processes, considering identity, concerning the environment, or engaging with archives. She is not interested in reviewing portraiture that is of the studio/commercial variety or without a thesis behind it. Maria is also not interested in AI photography.

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

Bryn Larsen
Co-Founder, Koslov Larsen
Houston, TX, United States
koslovlarsen.gallery

Bryn Larsen is a gallerist, advisor, and co-founder of Koslov Larsen gallery, located in the historic Museum District of Houston, Texas. Koslov Larsen (formerly Foto Relevance) specializes in contemporary fine art with an emphasis on photography-based work. The gallery is dedicated to providing a platform for an innovative selection of United States-based and international artists pushing the boundaries of their mediums.

In addition to promoting the work of artists, Koslov Larsen provides guidance, educating individual collectors and corporations in the acquisition and sale of art. Koslov Larsen is a member of the Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD) and the Houston Art Gallery Association (HAGA). The gallery is located in the historic Museum District in Houston, Texas in close proximity to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Menil Collection, and the Houston Center for Photography.

As an advisor, Bryn relishes the opportunity to work with collectors and corporate clients to integrate beautiful art into their spaces. She collaborates with consultants, interior designers and architects to make unusual and distinctive art selections, and her work is featured in national magazines and publications such as Southern Home, Elle Décor, The Houston Chronicle, Art Houston, and Modern Luxury Houston, among many others.

Bryn is involved philanthropically with numerous arts organizations in Houston and currently serves as a Trustee of the Contemporary Arts Museum of Houston and is on the Board of Directors for FotoFest. Bryn was formerly a member of the Photography Subcommittee at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and also the Houston Center for Photography, and she continues to be actively engaged as a patron of many art institutions in both Houston and New York.

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

Dewi Lewis
Publisher, Dewi Lewis Publishing
Stockport, United Kingdom
dewilewis.com

Dewi Lewis published his first photobook in 1987 when he set up a publishing house within Cornerhouse, the Film and Visual Arts Centre of which he was Director at the time.

In 1994 he established his own imprint which is now recognised as one of the leading international photo book publishers. Its authors have included photographers such as Martin Parr, Laia Abril, Jacob Aue Sobol, Simon Norfolk, Jens Olof Lasthein, Paolo Pellegrin, Anders Petersen, Fay Godwin, Tom Wood, Sergio Larrain and Bruce Gilden. The aim of the company is to bring to the attention of a wider public, accessible but challenging contemporary photography by both established and lesser known practitioners. Many of its books have been shortlisted for a range of international prizes and several have won major awards.

An Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, Dewi was awarded the inaugural Royal Photographic Society Award for Outstanding Services to Photography. He regularly lectures on photography and publishing and has acted as a portfolio reviewer at many of the major international photography events.

Lewis is not interested in reviewing nudes or abstract work.

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

Emilia Mickevicius
Norton Family Assistant Curator of Photography, Center for Creative Photography & Phoenix Art Museum
Tucson, AZ, United States
ccp.arizona.edu

Emilia (Emmy) Mickevicius is the Norton Family Assistant Curator of Photography, a dual appointment between the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson and the Phoenix Art Museum. Previously, she worked in the Photography department at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), where she co-organized or contributed to numerous exhibitions including Kinship: Photography and Connection, Sightlines: Photographs from the Collection, and A Living For Us All: Artists and the WPA, as well as the forthcoming presentation, Sea Change: Photographs from the Collection. In 2019 she received her Ph.D. from Brown University, where she wrote her dissertation on the 1975 Eastman Museum exhibition New Topographics.

Emmy is particularly interested in conceptual, abstract, and process-oriented work, as well as photographs that consider landscape. She can help artists identify their strongest images, explore future directions to take their series in progress, and discuss strategies around scale and materials. She also enjoys sharing insight about historical photographers or traditions that artists may be in dialogue with.

Jennifer Murray
Museum Manager, 21c Museum Hotel
Chicago, IL, United States
21cmuseumhotels.com/chicago

Jennifer Murray is an artist, educator, curator, and Museum Manager of 21c Museum Hotel, Chicago. Until recently, she was the executive director of Filter Photo, a nonprofit festival, exhibition, and educational space, also based in Chicago.

Her research and professional practice spans photography-based visual, curatorial, and writing projects, with recent curatorial projects at the Chicago Cultural Center and essay contributions for various artists' publications and exhibitions. Murray is a frequent curator, portfolio reviewer, and juror at photography events across the US. She teaches at Loyola University Chicago and is an independent artists' consultant. She received an MFA in photography from Columbia College Chicago. With a strong curatorial and educator background, she is most interested in viewing idea-driven, project-based work. She is not interested in seeing strictly formal work without a well-articulated concept. She is open to discussions about editing and sequencing and can provide feedback about preparing a project for exhibition.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English, Spanish (some) 

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

Jenny Nordquist  
Artistic Director, Landskrona Foto/ Landskrona Foto Festival
Landskrona, Sweden 
landskronafoto.org

Jenny Nordquist is the Artistic Director for Landskrona Foto and Landskrona Foto Festival in Sweden. Landskrona Foto is the collective name for a center for the photographic image that spans areas such as exhibitions, events, photo history, photo books and residency. The most important element is our biannual international photography festival. At present Jenny is working on the content for the festival in September 2024.

From 2016-2018 she was a freelance artistic director for Landskrona Foto Festival. She is educated as a photographer and from 2011-2016 she ran a gallery space for contemporary photography in Copenhagen, Denmark. She has also worked as a photography tutor and was head of an art department at a college in Sweden. 

At the Meeting Place, Jenny Nordquist is interested in seeing a wide range of contemporary fine art and documentary work employing conventional, alternative, mixed-media and a range of processes including video and new media. She is interested in imagery that pushes the limits of photography both aesthetically and conceptually. She would be delighted to encounter potential exhibitors for coming years festivals – is glad to see work in progress as well as complete works and can provide critique, insight and perspective. She is not interested in reviewing classical nudes and landscapes or commercial work. 

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English, Swedish, Danish 

Brian Piper
Freeman Family Curator of Photographs, Prints, and Drawings, New Orleans Museum of Art
New Orleans, LA, United States
noma.org

Biography Forthcoming

Christopher Rauschenberg
Board Chair & Exhibition Committee, Blue Sky Gallery
Portland, OR, United States
BlueSkyGallery.org

Christopher Rauschenberg is co-curator and board chairman of Blue Sky Gallery in Portland, Oregon. Blue Sky was established in 1975 by Mr. Rauschenberg and 4 other photographers. Since then, Mr. Rauschenberg has co-curated 963 solo exhibitions by 793 different artists, plus 61 group shows. Mr. Rauschenberg has been a photographer since 1973 and has had 126 solo shows of his own work in eight countries.

Blue Sky Gallery is a non-profit artists' space which produces 22 solo exhibitions per year and an occasional group show. Over the last 7 years, Blue Sky has produced 146 print-on-demand catalogs for our exhibiting artists. The gallery's focus and passion is on promoting emerging artists. Over the last 20 years, it has presented solo shows by 178 photographers from festivals like FotoFest. Blue Sky has presented solo shows by artists from 46 countries.

While Mr. Rauschenberg likes to look at everything, Blue Sky does not tend to exhibit fashion or classic nudes, traditional portraits and scenic photography (in the style of Edward Weston or Ansel Adams, for example). The many landscape and portrait exhibitions the gallery presents tend to have strong documentary and sociological content. As with all portfolio reviewers, you should look at our website to see if you and the gallery are a good match. Bear in mind that we are looking for coherent bodies of work, rather than isolated great pictures.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English

Arianna Rinaldo
Independent Curator, Photography Editor and Consultant
Curator, PhEST International Festival of Photography and Art
Barcelona, Spain
phest.info

Arianna Rinaldo is a freelance professional working with photography at a wide range. From 2012 to 2021 she has been the artistic director of Cortona On The Move, an international festival of visual narrative. Since 2016 she is the photography curator at PhEST, a festival on contemporary photography and arts in Puglia.

Arianna’s relationship with photography started in 1998 as Archive Director at Magnum Photos, NY; and then, back in Italy, as photo editor for Colors magazine. From 2004 to 2011, in Milan, she worked as editorial consultant and curator for exhibitions and special projects. For 4 years she was photo consultant at D, the weekend supplement of La Repubblica. For almost 10 years she was the director of OjodePez, a bilingual documentary photo quarterly published by La Fabrica in Madrid.

Based in Barcelona since 2012, Arianna is active as consultant, teacher, curator and editor. She participates in photo events and festivals around the world as speaker and portfolio reviewer; and she is regularly invited on jury panels and selections committees for international institutions and organizations. Arianna is intrigued by the amazing stories told through images. She is interested in contemporary documentary and original storytelling: visions on the current world and stories of humankind living on this planet, and beyond.

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.

J. Sybylla Smith
Independent Curator, Educator & Consultant
Concept Aware®
Cambridge, MA, United States
jsybyllasmith.com

J. Sybylla Smith brings a concept development lens to her work as an independent curator, educator and consultant. Her creative framework, Concept Aware®: How You See & Why It Matters, provides specific tools to visual artists to bring their abstract ideas to fruition in image, text, exhibition and book form.

Her curation features 115+ international photographers in over 30 exhibitions in the U.S., Mexico, Columbia and Japan. Her Concept Aware® podcast engages thousands of listeners from over 70 countries in a visual culture conversation rooted in the contemporary photobook-making process. Her 80+ interviews explore ideas, challenges and resources of creative practice and concept development with a focus on sharing ideas and resources. She consults with international photographers to refine ideas, develop portfolios, hone projects, create exhibitions and complete book proposals. Smith guest lectures and teaches workshops on Concept Aware® at educational institutions and arts organizations nationally, writes for publications on concept development, and juries global photo exhibitions and awards.

She is interested in seeing work at all stages of development that address the exploration of a wide variety of subjects, themes and issues. A focus of the review can include identifying key images, editing, sequencing, and discussing concept development, content and/or context of the work. Multi-media and experimental approaches are welcome. Smith is on a mission to illuminate, elevate and amplify the work of women photographers and other marginalized, underrepresented narratives. Her approach to visual storytelling is with an intersectional lens and a focus on equity and inclusion.

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.

Marta Szymanska  
Curator, Fotofestiwal International Festival of Photography 
Lodz, Poland 
fotofestiwal.com 

Marta Szymanska is a photography curator from Poland. Since 2005 she has been co-creating Fotofestiwal International Festival of Photography in Lodz, where she is responsible for the program. Marta was a vice-director of the Archeology of Photography Foundation which deals with saving, developing and promoting the archives of Polish photographers. Her curatorial experience includes also cooperation with Museum of Art in Lodz, Poland; Month of Photography in Minsk, Belarus; CinEast Central and Eastern Film Festival in Luxembourg and others. 

She edits texts on photography and teaches how to create short and compelling texts for own art projects. She is also an active reviewer. ”I see the role of the reviewer primarily as an attentive viewer who, at the right moment, asks a question that you would not ask yourself. I am interested in all types of photography that are based on authentic research and an empathetic outlook. I would be especially happy to see archival and social practice in photography.”

At the Meeting Place, Marta Szymanska is interested in reviewing documentary photography, social engaged practices and projects based on photography archives. She is not interested in reviewing fashion photography. 

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English, Polish 

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

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