The Alabaster Grave: Book Signing and Artist Talk With Cengiz Yar August 23

 We are delighted to welcome Cengiz Yar for a book signing and talk this Saturday, August 23 at 5 PM - free!

This Alabaster Grave is Cengiz Yar’s first monograph exploring the overwhelming destruction and pain faced by the Iraqi city of Mosul, within the context of its history and unique, now largely ruined, architecture. The book questions the cost of the fight against ISIS and global war on terror as told through the lives and city that bore the brunt of its destructive force.

Cengiz is a documentary photographer and editor based in El Paso, Texas who has worked in visual journalism for over a decade, from reporting in the field to building groundbreaking online packages. He is currently a visuals editor at ProPublica, where he edits, photographs, and art-directs stories across the site.

Andrew Harper: "Art in Santa Fe - a few favorite discoveries from my last trip"

 Via Andrew Harper

"The idea I had for this newsletter back in 1979 – to share information about peaceful and unspoiled sanctuaries with a limited and compatible group of sophisticated travelers – remains at the core of its identity today. There is no concealing my disdain for crowds, noise, rudeness, fast food, packaged destinations, characterless hotels and copycat resorts.”

August, 2025

While Santa Fe may not be the site of the country’s first art colony (that’s in New York) or the third-largest art market (highly disputed), a fact-challenged tour guide we overheard was right about one thing: The city has a long and rich history as an artist community. Synonymous with Georgia O’Keeffe, Santa Fe became an art-world darling in the 1980s and ’90s, helped along by artist transplants like Judy Chicago, Bruce Nauman and Susan Rothenberg. Visitors today can browse exhibitions in nine museums and more than 250 galleries. These are a few favorite discoveries from my last trip.

Monroe Gallery of Photography

“Ancestral Strength, Teton National Park, Wyoming, Cayuse, Umatilla, Newe Sogobia and Tséstho’e, 2023,” by Eugene Tapahe

Specializing in 20th- and 21st-century photography, this downtown gallery showcases images “embedded in our collective consciousness,” and a visit is eye-opening and deeply moving. The owners, a husband-and-wife team with deep knowledge of the medium, have personal relationships with world-renowned photojournalists. Their gallery documents the highs and lows of our shared history through powerful snapshots in time. In a single visit, you might see how Tony Vaccaro captured the brutality of the battlefield and the beauty of fashion, how Charles Moore and Grey Villet snapped unsettling scenes from the Civil Rights Movement, and other notable photographers caught intimate moments with celebrities, athletes and heads of state. Taken together, the collection provides a chance to reflect on where we’ve been and where we may be going. Co-owner Sidney Monroe indicated that emotional reactions are commonplace here: “It is as it should be,” he deadpanned.

Monroe Gallery

112 Don Gaspar Avenue. Tel. (505) 992-0800

Save The Date: August 14, Eugene Tapahe Artist Talk During Indian Market Weekend In Santa Fe

 

 Monroe Gallery of Photography is honored to announce a special event during the renowned Santa Fe Indian Market weekend, the world’s largest and most prestigious Indigenous art market in the world, now in its 103rd year.

An Evening with the Artist Eugene Tapahe.

Diné (Navajo) artist Eugene Tapahe will present an artist talk and preview the in-development documentary film Art Heals: The Jingle Dress Project on Thursday, August 14 at 5:30. The important exhibition featuring a photography series by artist Eugene Tapahe titled Art Heals: The Jingle Dress Project is on view through September 14, 2025.

Please contact the Gallery for further information.

Read In The Eye of Photography Monroe Gallery of Photography Eugene Tapahe : Art Heals, The Jingle Dress Project

Santa Fe: The Southwest City That Turned Itself Into an Essential Art Outpost

Via The New York Times

July 28, 2025

At Site Santa Fe, 71 artists were inspired by Southwestern figures, from healers and novelists to Navajo code talkers. Here’s a guide to the highlights.

Santa Fe is a place that can literally leave you breathless.

Reeling from a long flight and unacclimated to the altitude, I thought about this as I staggered up the 9,125-foot summit of Atalaya Mountain, with skittering lizards, wildflowers and 360-degree views of the city and its majestic environs.

I was steeling myself for the marathon of Site Santa Fe’s “Once Within a Time,” a citywide exhibition of work by 71 regional, national and international artists that turned out to be revelatory even for those of us with red chile in our veins, who have visited this city for decades.

Site Santa Fe opened in 1995 in a former warehouse turned nonprofit gallery in the city’s art-filled Railyard District, but it stretches to museums and unconventional venues nearby, including a much-beloved novelty store and a boutique-y cannabis dispensary. The cast and locales were chosen by the veteran curator Cecilia Alemani, artistic director of the 59th Venice Biennale and director and curator of public art for the High Line in New York.

Storytelling is at its core, with an only-in-New-Mexico cast of characters inspiring artists’ creations. They included boldface literary names like Willa Cather and D.H. Lawrence, who spent quality time in Taos, to more obscure historical “figures of interest” like Francis Schlatter, an Alsatian cobbler turned mystical healer, and Doña Tules, the “Queen of Sin” who ran a notorious gambling den off the city’s Plaza. (Fictional narratives are also thrown in for good measure.)  Full article here

New Book and Upcoming Exhibition: A Period in Time by Ed Kashi

Via Photo.com

July 25, 2025

Looking Back while Moving Forward, 1977–2022

Related Exhibition and Launch Event:
Monroe Gallery of Photography
“A Period In Time”
On View: October 3 – November 16, 2025

''When I first fell in love with photography, I had a deep desire to tell stories that could have an impact on both individuals and the greater good. I wanted to produce stories that would contribute to positive change in the world. But what’s truly captivating about being a visual storyteller is the privilege to learn about the world and observe individuals who are doing inspiring acts or living through traumatic and trying times.''— Ed Kashi

One of the world's most celebrated photojournalists and filmmakers, Ed Kashi has dedicated the past 45 years to documenting the social and geopolitical issues that define our era. His newest book, A Period in Time: Looking Back while Moving Forward: 1977–2022, is a stunning and expansive retrospective of photographs spanning the world and his prolific career. Over 200 images collected in this book reflect his commitment to bear witness. Essays and contextual writings combine with the photographs to provide a personal, in-depth look at significant historical events.

No single book could possibly capture and sum up the entirety of a career as rich in scope and breadth as Kashi's, and that is not what this book sets out to accomplish. Rather, this moving retrospective highlights the essence of Kashi's belief about the unique power of photography to see, record, and share both the overt and the subtle details of the human experience. His work covers dramatic global events, while also accentuating the less visible background moments that often go unnoticed.

© Ed Kashi

© Ed Kashi

In his Introduction, Kashi reflects, ''Photography is a kind of diplomatic passport to worlds unseen, unveiling issues that need illumination, documenting history in the making, and capturing the human experience and the many awe-inspiring places in our fragile world. I’ve witnessed too many powerful moments to recount them all. This book is a testimony to some of the most important stories I was motivated to pursue and dedicate myself to. My life has been shaped by these stories, the people I had the privilege to observe and learn from, and the places and narratives that have shaped who I’ve become.''

The book includes both color and black and white images and is divided into sections by timeline and project. The book opens in 1977 where Kashi's career in photography began. After almost a decade of magazine assignments, he undertook his first long-term documentary project in 1988 exploring the Protestant community in Northern Ireland. This photographic work would lead to his illustrious tenure with National Geographic.

From 1991-2005 Kashi documented the struggles and perseverance of the Kurdish people, the largest ethnic group in the world without a nation. From the impacts of World War I to the Gulf War to the genocide of Saddam Hussein, Kashi writes, For anyone who encounters the Kurds, it is impossible to remain silent. These photographs are a tribute to the strength and dignity of the Kurdish people.

The book also includes sections with images from Berlin, Ukraine, Cairo, Vietnam, Syria, Lebanon, Pakistan, Iraq, the Niger Delta, India, and Nicaragua, among others. A section on the Middle East spans 1991-2008 and connects to his heritage. His parents were born in Baghdad, Iraq, and immigrated to the United States in 1940. Kashi shares, ''My work and travels in the Middle East finally opened my eyes and heart to my familial origins, not the assimilated reality of a first-generation American.'' Kashi has photographed in 12 of the 22 countries in this region.

Kashi has also worked domestically, notably on an eight-year project with his wife chronicling what it means to age in America. This body of work challenges assumptions, while also looking honestly and compassionately at the inherent hardships of growing old.

© Ed Kashi

© Ed Kashi

A distinguishing element to this book is what is learned about the artist behind the photographs. Kashi offers us an intimate view into the personal effects and impressions of being in the field. He also shares deep insights into the relationship with his wife Julie Winokur, through Dispatches or emails, he exchanged with her while away on assignment. These dispatches are interspersed throughout the book providing a personal voice that reveals authentic, raw glimpses into the situations he witnessed and challenges he experienced.

The book is being published by the Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin, also the home of Kashi’s expansive archive. Don Carleton, the center's executive director, wrote the book's Preface, which highlights the importance of such a collection: “An archive of photographic images can have the potential of being not merely a stagnant repository, but a dynamic way for images from the past to bear witness. Such an archive provides us with opportunities to look deeper at the world around us—as it has been, as it is now, and how it might be in the future.

As Carleton notes, the information preserved on film and in the accompanying words and ephemera not only serves as evidence, but also as context for understanding history, people, and events. One of the primary missions of the Briscoe Center is to collect the work of outstanding photojournalists and documentary photographers because their images can be rich sources of visual historical evidence that can be read and interpreted in the same way as textual documents. If critically analyzed and evaluated, that characteristic can allow them to serve as important sources for research and teaching.

This retrospective book is a slice of Kashi's extensive archive, but the thoughtfulness in which the images and writings were compiled, results in a powerful overview. In Kashi’s own words, his archive is a growing, thriving, and continually evolving organism that has become a living library with profound value.Kashi’s work celebrates the strength, courage and resilience in the people he has witnessed. This book also acknowledges the toll this work has taken on him.

The book concludes with a reflective essay entitled 'Home,' where Kashi divulges a sense of isolation that comes from constantly traveling. He describes a life lived in between either home or a far-flung corner of the globe. Home, in the trusted definition of the word, is an anchor, a compass point, and for Kashi, that place is wherever his wife and kids are.

© Ed Kashi

© Ed Kashi

About the Artist:
Ed Kashi is a renowned photojournalist, filmmaker, speaker and educator who has been making images and telling stories for over 40 years. His restless creativity has continually placed him at the forefront of new approaches to visual storytelling. Dedicated to documenting the social and political issues that define our times, a sensitive eye and an intimate and compassionate relationship to his subjects are signatures of his intense and unsparing work. As a member of VII Photo, Kashi has been recognized for his complex imagery and its compelling rendering of the human condition. Kashi’s innovative approach to photography and filmmaking has produced a number of influential short films and earned recognition by the POYi Awards as 2015’s Multimedia Photographer of the Year. Kashi’s embrace of technology has led to creative social media projects for clients including National Geographic, The New Yorker, and MSNBC. From implementing a unique approach to photography and filmmaking in his 2006 Iraqi Kurdistan Flipbook, to paradigm shifting coverage of Hurricane Sandy for TIME in 2012, Kashi continues to create compelling imagery and engage with the world in new ways. Along with numerous awards from World Press Photo, POYi, CommArts and American Photography, Kashi’s images have been published and exhibited worldwide. His editorial assignments and personal projects have generated fourteen books. In 2002, Kashi in partnership with his wife, writer + filmmaker Julie Winokur, founded Talking Eyes Media. The non-profit company has produced numerous award-winning short films, exhibits, books, and multimedia pieces that explore significant social issues. Kashi is represented by Monroe Gallery, located in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

All about Ed Kashi

© Ed Kashi

About the Contributor:
Dr. Don Carleton is the founding executive director of the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History and the J. R. Parten Chair in the Archives of American History at The University of Texas at Austin. A specialist in American political and news media history, he is the author of 14 books, including Red Scare; Conversations with Cronkite; Struggle for Justice: Four Decades of Civil Rights Photography; and The Governor and the Colonel: A Dual Biography of William P. Hobby and Oveta Culp Hobby. He is also the executive producer of two PBS documentaries: When I Rise (2010) and Cactus Jack: Lone Star on Capitol Hill (2016). Prior to the creation of the Briscoe Center, he served as founding director of the Houston Metropolitan Research Center (HMRC), an urban history archive. A native of Dallas, Texas, Carleton earned his doctorate in United States at the University of Houston.  don-carleton

© Ed Kashi

About the Publisher:
As one of the leading history research centers in the nation, the Briscoe Center for American History collects, preserves, and makes available archival evidence that encompasses key themes in US history. The center fosters public exploration of history through research services, exhibits, books, public programs and digital humanities projects inspired by archival holdings. From its inception, the center has collected photography that provides evidence of the people, places, and events of American history. Recognizing the importance of photography for historical research and interpretation, in the early 1990s the center began extensive efforts to collect the archives of major American photojournalists. Those efforts soon expanded to include documentary and commercial photography, resulting in a collection that now contains more than 10 million images and spans from 1849 to the present.  briscoecenter.org

© Ed Kashi

About the Distributor:
The University of Texas Press is a book and journal publisher—a focal point where the life experiences, insights, and specialized knowledge of writers converge to be disseminated in both print and digital formats. Established in 1950, UT Press has published more than 4,000 books over seven decades.
utpress.utexas.edu

© Ed Kashi

Related Exhibition and Launch Event:
Monroe Gallery of Photography
“A Period In Time”
On View: October 3 – November 16, 2025
Opening with Ed Kashi: October 3, 5-7pm
Ed Kashi in conversation with Don Carleton at 5:30pm
More Information about the Exhibition

Hot Mirror Article: Eugene Tapahe: Healing and the Jingle Dress

 Via Hot Mirror

June 26, 2025

Togetherness, Sisters, Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, Goshute and Timpanogos, 2023

©Eugene Tapahe, Courtesy of Monroe Gallery

Eugene Tapahe: Healing and the Jingle Dress by Brian Byrd

Brian Byrd is a freelance photographer with more than two decades of experience advancing communication as a catalyst for social change. He serves on the board of directors for the Overseas Press Club of America and the advisory board for WITNESS, a global NGO founded by musician Peter Gabriel that uses video and digital technology to document human rights violations.

Art Heals: The Jingle Dress Project - New Exhibit

While wandering through this year's Association of International Photography Dealers (AIPAD) show in New York City, it's easy to become overwhelmed by the vast number of photographs on display. Yet among the visual cacophony, the Monroe Gallery booth stood out as one of the few to highlight the work of Native American artists. Eugene Tapahe's photographs from his Art Heals project commanded attention—not merely for their striking colors juxtaposed against nature's beauty, but for the profound story they tell. These images, featuring jingle dress dancers in magnificent landscapes, invite viewers into a space where cultural heritage, environmental connection, and healing converge in visual harmony.

Walking in Beauty

"I draw inspiration from my Diné (Navajo) traditions and modern experiences," said Tapahe. "My work reflects the beauty and resilience of Native American culture. I strive to unite these two worlds in my concepts while transcending worldly uncertainties."

At the core of Tapahe's artistic vision is the traditional Navajo philosophy "to always walk in beauty," a principle that guides both his creative practice and personal journey. Through various visual mediums—photography, video, printmaking, installation, and mixed-media sculpture—Tapahe creates a delicate balance between past and present, using subtle contrasts, natural colors, and contours to offer unity, hope, and healing in a world often marked by disconnection.

In the early months of 2020, as the world retreated into isolation, the Diné (Navajo) artist found himself at a painful crossroads. His art shows were canceling one by one, and personal tragedy struck when he lost his aunt to COVID-19. "I felt like I was broken," he recalls. "I felt like there was nothing good going to happen."

Then came the dream that would change everything.

Tapahe describes a peaceful vision where he sat in a Yellowstone meadow watching grazing bison. The tranquility was interrupted by the distinct sound of jingles—and suddenly, beautiful jingle dress dancers appeared, performing alongside the bison. He awoke with a profound sense of healing and hope, immediately sharing his vision with his family.

"This dream is telling me that we need to take the jingle dress to the land, to heal the land," Tapahe told his wife and daughters. "And if we heal the land, we're going to heal the people." --click for full article

The exhibit opens July 5, 2025, with an artist’s talk at 5:30 p.m. It will continue during the renowned Santa Fe Indian Market weekend, the world’s largest Native American art market, August 16 and 17, and conclude on September 14, 2025. 

Gabriella Campos Photographs Native Fashion Week For Vogue

 Via Vogue

May 13, 2025

Photo by Gabriella Campos

In Santa Fe, Native Fashion Week Was a Celebration of Community

This past weekend, you could easily spot flocks of stylish Indigenous folks parading across Santa Fe, New Mexico—all decked out in their finest gowns, dentalium shell necklaces, and beaded earrings. The occasion for such peacocking? Santa Fe Native Fashion Week, a jam-packed weekend presenting new contemporary collections from Indigenous designers across North America. With tentpole events such as SWAIA Native Fashion Week and Native Fashion Week Santa Fe taking over the entire city, well-clad crowds gathered to celebrate and witness the innovative new shows—all of which stemmed from an exciting mix of artists from various regions and tribes. --Full article here

Henry Monroe exhibition at The Santa Fe Regional Airport

 

Henry Monroe exhibition at The Santa Fe Regional Airport

Bridges: The space between us

​Friday, April 11th, 2025 through Thursday, July 24th, 2025

Santa Fe Regional Airport

​

A collection of 7 stunning photographs through the lens of a master.

The road to Lamy

Highway 159

Railyard Truck

Taos Gorge

Magic Sky

Coming Later

Abiquiu Morada

Archival pigment prints. Represented by Monroe Gallery of Photography

More

In a world where the things that divide us sometimes feel insurmountable, impassable, impossible, artists build bridges. The space between us may be vast and physical like the Grand Canyon, the Pacific Ocean, the Taos Gorge, or it may be figurative, imagined or implied like an ideology, opinion, emotion, perspective, boundary or border. This collection from some of Santa Fe’s finest galleries invites an inquiry into the negative space, the space between things and the ways in which artists navigate the invisible world between objects.

Showcasing fine art glass works alongside an assortment of vibrant watercolor, acrylic, ink, oil, mixed media, and poignant photographs, Bridges celebrates the dynamics of the space between us. These pieces soar above literal and figurative separations, some imposed by the Earth herself, some imagined or drawn on maps. It is the strength of the connections we make across the space between us that inspires this exhibition.

​All work represented here is available for purchase. Please contact the representing gallery or the Santa Fe Gallery Association to inquire: info@santafegalleryassociation.org 505/982-1648

The Santa Fe Gallery Association in conjunction with the City of Santa Fe Arts & Culture Department. are delighted to bring you this exhibition featuring works from some of Santa Fe's finest galleries and artists reflecting the depth and breadth of our fine art community

Pilgrimage: Good Friday in Northern New Mexico - Workshop With Gabriela Campos

 Via Santa Fe Workshops

Of the many beautiful and complex traditions in Northern New Mexico, one of the most unique is the annual Pilgrimage to Chimayo on Good Friday. Pilgrims travel on foot—some for hundreds of miles—from Santa Fe and other starting points to El Santuario de Chimayo, a small adobe chapel nestled in the Santa Cruz Valley. The road to El Santuario is filled with decisive moments: individuals are seen silhouetted against the sky, some with crosses on their backs; families walk together; the young and the old alike complete the journey. Upon their arrival, the travelers offer prayers and ask to receive the healing powers of the site. A tradition that is said to have spanned nearly 200 years, this is one of the largest pilgrimages in all of North America.

This April, join photojournalist and native New Mexican Gabriela Campos for this truly one-of-a-kind opportunity to document the Good Friday traditions and Pilgrimage to Chimayo. With her years of experience covering this cultural touchstone, Gabriela guides you to understand and visualize the essence of these traditions. You witness and photograph the events of the weekend up close and learn best practices for approaching subjects with respect. Gabriela also shares insights from her fieldwork and covers documentary storytelling techniques such as environmental portraiture, improvising and adapting to new photographic situations, and understanding cultural perspectives.

We begin this three-day workshop by visiting El Santuario de Chimayo, where we witness the devotions of thousands who make the trip annually. The processions begin around noon and provide ample opportunities for photographing subjects, cultural and religious details, and the beauty of the landscape and architecture surrounding the chapel.

Holy Week in New Mexico is famous not only for its pilgrimage but also for its car and Lowrider culture. Every year, artists, engineers, and car enthusiasts gather in Española for their own annual celebration, including a car show and Lowrider hopping competition. Participants experience this visually rich event firsthand and have the chance to meet Lowrider artists and create meaningful portraits and photographs during the festivities.

We balance our time in the field with conversation and an image review on the Santa Fe Workshops campus. Participants receive feedback from Gabriela and their peers and discuss editing their images to form a comprehensive narrative.

Running from Thursday morning through Saturday afternoon, this workshop offers a rare opportunity to immerse yourself in a rich cultural experience and create memorable and unparalleled imagery. Join Gabriela and Santa Fe Workshops for this special program to expand your photographic skills and deepen your understanding of this unique part of the world.

To register for this in-person spring course, click here.

About Gabriela Campos

Gabriela Campos was born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Always the observer, she picked up her father’s old Pentax camera her senior year of high school and has never stopped shooting. Gabriela’s camera became a tool to explore the culture, community, and traditions she grew up amongst.

Her work ranges from daily news coverage as a staff photojournalist for the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper, to more in-depth storytelling with her imagery documenting the people, towns, and traditions of the Southwest. Gabriela’s photos have been shown nationally and belong in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Museum of American History, the New Mexico History Museum, and the Spencer Museum of Art. Her work has been published in The Guardian, The New York Times, High Country News, and numerous local and national publications. Gabriela’s photos are now shown amongst the work of some of the most influential photojournalists of the 20th and 21st centuries at the Monroe Gallery of Photography in Santa Fe.

Through the Lens 2024: Gabriela Campos

 Via The Santa Fe New Mexican

December 28, 2024

David Manzanares, Ghost Ranch field producer, looks out upon the expansive landscape over Abiquiu as a storm rolled in on Friday Mar. 8, 2024. Manzanares recollected on speaking with a location supervisor who contacted him back in October 2021 to pick his brain about potential spots for the film that would become Oppenheimer. This overlook was one of the selling points for the film crew to choose Abiquiu for filming.

Gabriela Campos/The New Mexican

A look at a few of staff photographer Gabriela Campos' favorite moments from 2024. 

(click for more photos)

Percy Edwards, from the Colville Confederated Tribe in Washington state, stands for a portrait before dancing at the Gathering of Nations at Tingley Coliseum at Expo New Mexico in Albuquerque, N.M. in April.

Gabriela Campos/The New Mexican

Jaime Gonzalez carries a large wooden cross down N.M. 503 for the annual Good Friday pilgrimage to the Santuario de Chimayo.

Gabriela Campos/The New Mexican

Images of Winter Are Frozen in Time

 Via Pasatiempo

November 29, 2024

Ida Wyman: Wrought Iron Design in Snow, New York City, 1947

In the 2023 photograph Ancestral Strength by Eugene Tapahe, four Indigenous women — Cayuse, Umatilla, Newe Sogobia, and Tséstho’e — stand side by side wearing brightly colored traditional garb, staring toward the sky behind the photographer. The stark winter beauty of the background in Wyoming’s Teton National Park further highlights the women’s projected power.

In the 1949 photograph Southern Pacific Steam Engine by John Dominis, a steam engine plows through a snowy landscape at Donner Pass, California.

Both images showcase forms of strength, but that’s not the tie that binds them. Both are part of Frozen in Time, an exhibition that Monroe Gallery of Photography describes as an “imaginative survey of compelling images.” It covers a range of human experiences, from the joy of exploration in George Silk’s 1946 shot Tourists Climb Fox Glacier in Tasman National Park, taken in New Zealand, to the ugly brutality of war in Tony Vaccaro’s White Death, Pvt. Henry Irving Tannebaum Ottre, taken in Belgium in 1945. 

It opens with a reception from 4-6 p.m. Friday, November 29. — Brian Sandford

details

Through January 19

Monroe Gallery of Photography

112 Don Gaspar Avenue

505-992-0800, monroegallery.com

New Exhibition "Frozen In Time" Opening and Plaza Holiday Lighting Will be Held Nov. 29

 The new exhibition "Frozen In Time", an imaginative survey of compelling images that reveal moments in history and the unseen and unexpected layers of our world in winter, opens with a public reception on Friday, November 29, from 4-6 pm. 

The City of Santa Fe’s annual Holiday Plaza Lighting ceremony will be held from 4:15-8 p.m. Nov. 29 on The Plaza.

Santa and Mrs. Claus will arrive by vintage fire truck at 5:45 p.m. City officials will switch on the lights at 6:30 p.m., and Santa Fe’s holiday season will officially begin.

Live Music will begin at 4:15 p.m.

Hot Cocoa & Cookies
Food Trucks
Countdown to Lighting

Reflections On An Exhibition

 

Grey Villet

Coma and Compassion, Nurse Judy Strickland, New York, 1977

November 17, 2024

Today is the final day for the exhibition "The Best Of Us". 

At the conclusion of every exhibit, we find ourselves discussing our impressions, thoughts, and the feedback we received from gallery visitors and collectors. This time, our reflections are deeply meaningful. 

"The Best Of Us" was an exhibition depicting the ideals and diversity of the human experience; through nearly 50 photographs which explored the characterization of extraordinary and everyday people who renew our faith that all things are possible and exemplify our ideals. People who exemplified the best traits of humanity:  kindness, empathy, compassion, consideration, patience, generosity, resilience, and the willingness to make a difference.

Opening on October 4, as America headed into the final stage of a Presidential election, the images in the exhibit emphasized the necessity of understanding and appreciating photojournalism.

There have been many exhibits that we wish could have run longer, and this another; it will be difficult to see it come to an end. Since the opening on October 4, the exhibit has been seen by many hundreds of viewers: young, old, tours, school groups, veterans, politicians, museum curators, collectors, the "famous", and even a few homeless. We have seen parents quietly explaining the situation behind a photograph to their children, we have seen people softly weeping, and the quiet of the gallery has occasionally been startled by someone gasping "Oh my God!" 

This exhibition has affirmed our steadfast belief in the power of a photograph. The introductory wall text included this quote from Maya Angelou: "Be sure you do not die without having done something wonderful for humanity”. 

We are so grateful for all of the participating photographers, so many of whom we have been privileged to have known know personally. For those who are no longer living with us, we thank their families for preserving their archives. For those still working, we honor your commitment and service to humanity.

 Thank you to all who visited the exhibit and thank you for your kind words and shared emotions. It has been deeply moving to see "The Best Of Us" personified in visitors to the exhibit.

“I cannot tell you where our history is leading us, or through what suffering, or into what era of war or peace. But wherever it is, I know people of good heart will be passing there.” -Carl Mydans, Life photojournalist

View "The Best of Us" and other past exhibits archived here.

Special Event: Art Heals - The Jingle Dress Project

Monroe Gallery of Photography is honored to host a special fundraising event to support The Jungle Dress Project documentary. 

Photographer Eugene Tapahe's goal is to take the healing power of the Ojibwe jingle dress to the land, to travel, to dance and capture a series of images to document the spiritual places our ancestors once walked, and to unite and give hope to the world through art, dance and culture to help us heal. This special event will feature an exclusive preview of the Art Heals: The Jingle Dress Project short documentary with an opportunity to contribute towards the continuation of the film.

Fine art prints will be available with proceeds from sales supporting the project.

Friday, August 16, starting promptly at 6:30

RSVP essential by Monday, July 12; please use this link.  Seating is limited.

"Now, the project is bigger than I imagined. The support, the love, and the encouragement from all over the world is inspirational. It motivates Dion, Erin, JoAnni, Sunni and I through our difficulties while we travel on our photo expeditions. It has been beautiful, emotional, empowering and most importantly, healing. Don't miss this unique opportunity to experience the beauty and unity of our spiritual journey through compelling visuals and storytelling behind this historic endeavor" --Eugene Tapahe

Travel + Leisure readers selected Santa Fe as the #2 U.S. destination; "a photographer's dream"

 Via Travel & Leisure

July 9, 2024

Travel + Leisure readers selected Santa Fe as the #2 U.S. destination on the 2024 World’s Best Awards’ list of the, “15 Best Cities in the U.S.” for the second consecutive year! 

"This artsy Southwestern destination has ranked high on our list for nearly 20 years, and it’s not just because of the 320 days of sunshine it receives each year, though it certainly doesn’t hurt. “Santa Fe is like its own country within a country,” gushed one reader. “It’s such a unique blend of culture and history that you don’t see in the rest of the USA.” Another visitor called its downtown, with Pueblo-style buildings and independent galleries, “a photographer's dream and a shopper's delight.”

THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF TONY VACCARO

 Via Kevin Sessums Sums It Up

July 6, 2024

"I first discovered the extraordinary photographs of Tony Vaccaro a few years ago - and met the man himself - when I was in Santa Fe and Ali MacGraw, one of his subjects, took me to an exhibition of his work at the Monroe Gallery of Photography. I was both impressed by his fashion and celebrity photographs and moved by his WWII ones. I think he was unique in his bestriding both worlds with such grit and grace. There was a kind of wry bemusement to the fashion and celebrity ones but a wrenching intimacy to the war work. Last night the latest show of his photography opened at the Monroe Galley. I felt Tony’s presence in my conversation with his ten-year-old grandson Luke who was there with his family. The show runs until September 15th. If you are in Santa Fe, don’t miss it."

 --more here

Tony Vaccaro: The Pursuit of Beauty

 Via Musee Magazine

July 5, 2024

Tony Vaccaro died on December 28, 2022, eight days after celebrating his 100th birthday. Orphaned at age 6, as a young boy he immersed himself in studying classic European art and by age 10 had a box camera. He photographed WWII from a soldier’s perspective, documenting his personal witness to the brutality of war. After carrying a camera across battlefields, he become one the most sought-after photographers of his day, eventually working for virtually every major publication: Flair, Look, Life, Venture, Harper’s Bazaar, Town and Country, Quick, Newsweek, and many more. Vaccaro turned the trauma of his youth into a career seeking beauty. Tony’s transition from war and its aftermath was a deliberate one as an antidote to man’s inhumanity to man.



more here: Monroe Gallery

Lynsey Addario at the 2024 Santa Fe International Literary Festival

Via The Santa Fe International Literary Festival

 On the Big Stage with Lynsey Addario

May 18, 2024, 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM

Tickets here

LYNSEY ADDARIO is the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir It’s What I Do and a celebrated photojournalist covering conflicts in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Darfur, South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She regularly photographs for The New York Times, National Geographic, and Time and has been named by American Photo Magazine one of the five most influential photographers of the past 25 years. Addario was the official photographer for the Nobel Peace Center’s 10th Peace Prize Exhibition and has been the recipient of numerous awards, including a MacArthur “genius” fellowship and the Overseas Press Club’s Olivier Rebbot Award for best photographic reporting from abroad in magazines and books. She was also part of the New York Times team to win the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. In 2018 Penguin Press published her first solo collection of photography, Of Love and War. She lives in London.

Featured Book: It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War by Lynsey Addario

Ways of Seeing: Four Photographic Collections

 Via The New Mexico Museum of Art

January 18, 2024

Art collectors are often said to have “a good eye” for pictures, but what does that really mean? This selection of photographs from three collections recently donated to the museum and one promised gift illustrates a variety of approaches to choosing works of art and assembling a collection. United by a passion for photography, each collector brings a distinctive sensibility to the undertaking. Artist Jamie Brunson and her former husband Mark Levy gravitated to large color photographs of the 1990s that reflect their interest in social justice and meditation. Photographer and photo dealer Don Moritz amassed a large collection of that included a group of prints by David Michael Kennedy. New Yorker W.M. Hunt was attracted to images of people whose eyes are not readily visible and searched internationally for decades to build a unique holding on that theme. Santa Fe collectors Caroline Burnett and her late husband William chose images that moved them deeply, ultimately creating a collection largely of modernist photographs from the mid-twentieth century. On view will be suites of work from each collector, including photographs by Ruth Bernhard, Edward Burtynsky, Harry Callahan, Adam Fuss, David Michael Kennedy, Minor White, and more.

Opening Saturday, January 20

At the 1917 Plaza Building 

New Mexico Museum of Art

(505) 476-5072
Plaza: 107 West Palace

Santa Fe, NM

 nmartmuseum.org

Related article in the Santa Fe New Mexican Pasatiempo: Photography in NMMoA's new exhibit reflects the eye of the beholder

Through the lens 2023: Gabriela Campos

 Via The Santa Fe New Mexican

December 28, 2023

Gallery Photographer Gabriela Campos shares some of her favorite images from 2023.

Kelly Ludeking, a Minnesota ironmonger, spins molten iron while fellow artists throw liquid iron onto a plywood wall behind him during the biennial Iron Tribe gathering March 2 in Las Vegas, N.M. The gathering, started by Highlands University fine arts professor David Lobdell in 2001, has become a can’t-miss event, particularly for professors and students in the West and Great Plains.

Gabriela Campos/The New Mexican

Full gallery here.