From the Field: Nuclear Legacy

CENTER, the non-profit photography organization in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is thrilled to announce the opening of its new photographic exhibition and learning center in the Pacheco District of Santa Fe.

The first exhibition, From the Field: Nuclear Legacy, features New Mexico-based program alumni and previous CENTER award winners Sofie Hecht, Meridel Rubenstein, Jane Whitmore, and Will Wilson. The exhibition opens May 30, 5:00 - 7:00 pm, and will run through July 11, 2025. The featured work includes stories from New Mexico’s Downwinders, details about Operation Crossroads, where nuclear weapons were detonated in the Marshall Islands, the effects of the Manhattan Project on New Mexico residents, and uranium extraction and processing on the Navajo Nation. A free and open-to-the-public moderated panel discussion with the photographers and Curator, Mary Anne Redding from the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, is scheduled for the afternoon, May 31, at CENTER.

CENTER has advanced the photographic arts for over thirty years, with a mission to support lens-based projects through education, public platforms, funding, and partnerships. This new space is a destination for photographers, curators, collectors of lens-based art, editors, publishers, students, educators, and our whole community, housing CENTER offices, a spacious gallery, classes, and a photographic book library.

From the Field: Nuclear Legacy features alumni and award winners award-winning photographers at CENTER’s new gallery. CENTER’s renewed physical presence in Santa Fe marks an exciting chapter for the organization. The new venue is the realization of a longtime vision of offering ongoing programs that serve the Santa Fe and New Mexico communities and a global audience.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS • Sofie Hect, 2024 Socially Engaged Award & Review Santa Fe Alum, Meridel Rubenstein, 2021 Project Launch Grant Honorable Mention, Jane Whitmore, 2021 Project Launch Grant recipient, and Will Wilson, 2024 Review Santa Fe Selection Committee Member, 2019 Review Santa Fe Alum, and The Democratic Lens Contributor.