EMERGING VISION: BIENNIAL STUDENT SHOW

Juror: Nelson Chan

Assistant Professor of Photography at the California College of the Arts

& Publisher/Co-Founder of TIS Books

DECEMBER 3, 2024 – JANUARY 11, 2025

Opening Reception and Awards Ceremony with Juror at Colorado Photographic Arts Center

1200 Lincoln Street, Suite 111, Denver, CO 80203

Friday, December 6, 2024

5 – 8 pm

All events are free and open to the public

The Colorado Photographic Arts Center is proud to announce its Biennial Student Show, Emerging Vision 2024. Juror Nelson Chan, Assistant Professor of Photography at the California College of the Arts and Publisher/Co-Founder of TIS Books, selected images by 27 talented photography students from universities located throughout the US, each student offering a unique perspective on the future of a medium that is constantly evolving.

At the Opening Reception and Awards Ceremony on December 6th, juror Chan presented his selections for Best in Show and Honorable Mentions. The Best in Show winner received a 30-minute virtual portfolio review with Chan and $150 in custom printing from Digital Silver Imaging. Honorable Mentions received $150 in custom printing from Digital Silver Imaging.

Congratulations to the 2024 Emerging Vision Award Winners: 

Best in Show – Brianna Tadeo

Honorable Mentions – Nika McKagen and Montenez Lowery

(Pictured Above: Weight-Bearing, detail, by Lydia Norton)

EXHIBITING ARTISTS

Norman Aragones, Dillon Bryant, Ryan Lee Dorman, Vernell Dunams, Ilana Grollman, Jenn Guelich, Beihua Guo, Kate Hassett, Morgan Hesse, Han Huyen Le, Montenez Lowery, Nika McKagen, Ryan Mitchell, Phú Nguyễn, Lydia Norton, Reese Paulson, Aaron Perez, Joseph A Rafferty III, Ginger Gore Russell, Amina Slimane, Roshaun Stephenson, Brianna Tadeo, Ella Tunis, Barbara Uzcategui Luna, Junxian Wang, Leni Mae Weigand, and Jiayue Yu

Juror’s Statement

October 19, 2024

Admittedly, I’ve been dragging my feet with regard to the deadline for this statement. It’s taken me this long partly because of other responsibilities, but also partly because I’m intimidated by this profound desire for students to make and overwhelmed by what is made. What finally pushed me to put pen to paper (or fingertips to keyboard, in this case) was the convergence of today being the 70th anniversary of Kodak’s Tri-X film and assigning Robert Adams’s essay, Truth in Landscape, to my current darkroom students.

In this Robert Adams essay, he says, “Landscape pictures can offer us, I think, three verities — geography, autobiography, and metaphor. Geography is, if taken alone, sometimes boring, autobiography is frequently trivial, and metaphor can be dubious. But taken together, as in the best work of people like Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston, the three kinds of information strengthen each other and reinforce what we all work to keep intact — an affection for life.” I’ve love this paragraph so much because I always see it being applicable to so much more than just landscape pictures and it’s something that I always encourage my students to think about with regard to their work. It’s so cliche to say, but being a part of a student’s journey through the discoveries of art and photography is a wondrous thing. I’m not just learning about the world, but learning about their world — which holds an infinite amount of possibilities. This selection of work was no different. I was brought through an ebb and flow of joy and heartbreak and desire and dissent. Through this, my constant low-grade anxieties of the state of photography was quelled by what I can only see as an affection for life (with photography).

— Nelson Chan

EXHIBITION PREVIEW

About the Juror

Nelson Chan was born in New Jersey to immigrant parents from Hong Kong and Taiwan and has spent most of his life between the States and Hong Kong. Having grown up on two continents with unique cultures, this immigrant experience has influenced the majority of his work.

Chan is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, where he received his BFA and a graduate of the University of Hartford, Hartford Art School, where he received his MFA. He has been exhibited nationally and internationally at institutions such as the Museum of Chinese in America, New York, NY; Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA; The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA; Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany; and 798 Space, Beijing, China. His books are collected in the institutional libraries of the Harry Ransom Center, The MET, The Guggenheim, The Whitney, and MoMA.

Book publishing is a primary focus of Chan’s studio practice. He is a co-founder of TIS books, and from 2016-19 he was the Production Manager of Aperture Foundation. Now based in the Bay Area, he is an Assistant Professor of Photography within the undergraduate and graduate programs at the California College of the Arts.