As a local museum, VACNJ is
committed to supporting, nurturing,
and advancing the careers of
NJ artists. With a large and very
active studio school, we always
welcome exhibition content that
will be relevant for our students—
many of whom are interested in
photography. All of these factors
made the proposed exhibition a
great fit for both organizations.
Working as a team, Mary Birmingham
(Curator), Kimberly
Fisher (Exhibitions Manager), and
Sarah Walko (Director of Programs
and Community Engagement) met
with NJPF and developed a concept
for the exhibition, which was
to have taken place in the Art Center’s
Main Gallery during July and
August of 2020. While a series of
recent shows had celebrated the
group’s twenty-fifth anniversary,
they decided to shift the focus of
this one to look forward to the
next twenty-five years. VACNJ invited
NJPF members to submit
recent work that would embrace
the future and pursue new directions.
VACNJ asked them to
show where they hoped to take
their photographic practices in
the future. And then Covid-19 intervened
and changed the plans.
While their galleries remain closed
for the summer, VACNJ decided
it was even more important to
continue with this show—especially
with its reference to the two
group’s shared history and its embrace
of the future.
The curatorial team met virtually
to select works for the show.
Transforming the exhibition to an
online one with a digital catalogue
altered the selection process in
several interesting ways. Normally,
curators choose works for a group
exhibition by thinking about how
the works will relate as a whole
when installed in the gallery. They
must consider the relative scale
of the works, making sure there is
enough space while envisioning
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