Elizabeth Krist • visualthinkingcollective.com • New York
Independent Visual Editor • Visual Thinking Collective

I’m grateful to the CENTER for providing artists the opportunity to offer their work for review, and for providing us as judges the means to see the range and the spirit of so much exceptional photography. Creating art is an act of faith. It requires mastering a craft, often overcoming doubts to externalize a way of seeing. For the artist it is a means of expression that can also be driven by the compulsion to move viewers to question and to act. As an audience, we all benefit. 

This year, memorable projects ranged across an encouraging profusion of themes. Among them: pride in identity, asserting, We are here, and we are worthy; the intimacy of exploring a threatened way of life, creating a respectful entry point for outsiders; innovative interpretations of news or environmental issues, seemingly made in hopes that sending the work into the world will effect change; reimaginings of alternative history; immersive abstracts; conjuring mysteries from the everyday we all recognize.

A few reflections upon judging—
Often I found a surprising disconnect between the artist statements and the work itself. A masterfully written description could lead to disappointment when seeing images that failed to live up to the promise of the words; or conversely, a barrage of jargon could end in relief and delight upon seeing the images. Concise statements that embodied profound concepts in concrete ideas directly related to the images were most effective for me. 

Within any body of work, there is tension between coherence and variety. When is repetition an effective technique, and when does it lose our attention? If a set of images feels too scattered, I might sense that a perceptive curator could still help the project come together. But if the submitted work is that fragmented, does the artist have that fundamental understanding of what they are striving for? 

There were times I marveled at incredible levels of craft, but asked, is the content worthy? Does this artist have anything to say? Perhaps most painful is seeing two or three spectacular images drowning amidst too many weak and predictable images. 

I’ll also admit that I was concerned by how many entries consisted of self-portraiture. This may not be a surprise, given that we are emerging from years of pandemic lockdown in which we were compelled to isolate. I understand that many photographers are using their own bodies as a microcosm to illuminate universal concerns, or in the therapeutic service of others in extremis. And I included more than one inventive self-portrait entry among my highest rated. But my hope is that more artists will shift their gaze outward as we move forward. 

Acknowledging that my fellow jurors and future jurors may feel completely differently, I will venture to say that I was most inspired by projects that focused on a single topic with a distinctive, yet coherent, visual approach--rather than by entries containing multiple projects, or single images united only by the fact that they were made by one artist.

I’m struck by how many remarkable artists are making stellar work deserving of greater recognition, and hope this exposure at the Review will bring them an abundance of opportunities.