History
SF Camerawork was founded in 1974 by John Lamkin and a group of artists, initially calling it "Lamkin Camerawork Gallery". Allie Haeusslein writes in the ''SF Camerawork was founded in 1974 with the mission of promoting emerging photographers and encouraging diverse approaches to the medium; Hal Fischer, Donna-Lee Phillips and Lew Thomas – three influential conceptual photographers of the period – were among those involved in establishing the cooperative organisation. SF Camerawork fearlessly mounted early-career solo exhibitions forJoel-Peter Witkin Joel-Peter Witkin (born September 13, 1939) is an American photographer who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His work often deals with themes such as death, corpses (and sometimes dismembered portions thereof), often featuring ornately decorated ...(1982),Allan Sekula Allan Sekula (January 15, 1951 – August 10, 2013) was an American photographer, writer, filmmaker, theorist and critic. From 1985 until his death in 2013, he taught at California Institute of the Arts. His work frequently focused on large economi ...(1985),Uta Barth Uta Barth (born 1958) is a contemporary German-American photographer whose work addresses themes such as perception, optical illusion and non-place. Her early work emerged in the late 1980s and 1990s, "inverting the notion of background and foreg ...(1994),Todd Hido Todd Hido (born 25 August 1968) is an American photographer. He has produced 17 books, had his work exhibited widely and included in various public collections. Hido is currently an adjunct professor at the California College of the Arts in San F ...(1997),Gregory Halpern Gregory Halpern (born 1977) is an American photographer and teacher. He currently teaches at the Rochester Institute of Technology and is a nominee member of Magnum Photos. Halpern has published a number of books of his own work; ''Zzyzx'' won Ph ...(2007) and Meghann Riepenhoff (2016), just a few of the exhibited artists that are now well-known names. It has organised compelling (and, in some cases, prescient) thematic exhibitions about photography in California, photomontage, identity politics, and digital photography.
Programming
According to ''Artweek'':SF camerawork has a dedicated Education Center and Library, with gallery and forum spaces to engage and to exhibit work by students from ''First Exposures'', SF Camerworks’s photography mentoring program for at-risk youth. The 3,000 volume photography reference library includes many rare and out-of-print publications.Programming has included the publication, ''Camerawork: A Journal of Photographic Arts'' and administration of the '' James D. Phelan Art Award in Photography.'' About ''Solos'', a program which began in 2005, and featured two or three artists in simultaneous solo exhibitions, ''Artweek'' writer Amber Whiteside states, “The aim of this new series is to provide a platform that accommodates multiple artists’ visions without forcing them together under a curatorial agenda.”
References
External links
* {{Bay Area Arts Organizations, state=collapsed 501(c)(3) organizations 1974 establishments in California Art museums and galleries in San Francisco Contemporary art galleries in the United States Non-profit organizations based in the San Francisco Bay Area Arts organizations established in 1974 Photography museums and galleries in the United States