A signature event of Medium Photo, the 2023 Medium Festival of Photography takes place Saturday, April 1-16 at locations across San Diego County and Tijuana, Mexico.2023 festival events are drawn from an open call for public proposals with select events organized by Medium Photo. This year’s festival includes 14 artist talks, 11 studio visits, 6 exhibitions, 5 workshops, 3 film screenings and a Community Pop-Up event with 25 artists and vendors exhibiting. Individual events will address topics such as climate change, mental health, social justice, immigration, with all events celebrating unique work being done with creative photography. Most events take place in person with select events offered exclusively online. The majority of 2023 festival events are offered free to the public, presenting the widest range of programming in our history.
JUDITH JOY ROSS AND JOSHUA CHUANG present a keynote event in conjunction with Ms. Ross’ career retrospective and publication curated by Joshua Chuang, Judith Joy Ross, Photographs 1978-2015. A reception begins at 5:30pm on April 7, 2023 at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (La Jolla campus), followed by the talk at 6:30pm and book signing at 7:30. The event is free to attend with advance registration.
ANH-THUY NGUYEN presents the Second Sight Award artist talk Songs of Rice and Rivers about her life and creative work informed by her history as a Vietnamese immigrant to the United States. Mrs. Nguyen was a 2022 Portfolio Review participant nominated by a cohort of Medium Festival reviewers for the award. Nguyen’s work incorporates analog darkroom materials, video, and performance to investigate her cultural and identity as well as her migration story. Thursday April 6 at 7:00pm, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (La Jolla campus).
DEBI CORNWALL presents her ten-minute short film Pineland/Hollywood. Using fair-use clips from almost 200 Hollywood films to tell one true story in collaboration with the survivor of a traumatic event, Pineland/Hollywood challenges viewers to reassess how we consume fictionalized stories of real state violence. UCSD professor MICHAEL TRIGILIO will lead a talk back with Ms. Cornwall about the film. Saturday April 8 at 11:00am, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (La Jolla campus).
CHIP THOMAS, aka “jetsonorama” is a Black physician, public artist and activist who has lived in the Navajo Nation since 1987. His talk “A Life of Activism on the Navajo Nation” presents his large-scale photographs pasted on the roadside and the sides of houses in the northern Arizona desert, in addition to a community building project which manifests as murals across the Navajo Nation painted by artists from the Navajo Nation and the world. Co-hosted by Medium Photo, SDSU and San Diego City College, the talk takes place on April 13 at 7:00pm, online.
For a full schedule of 2023 festival events or to purchase VIP Passes visit mediumphoto.org/
Artist Talks:
The 2023 Festival includes 14 artist talks taking place online and in person. Topics range from social practice on the Navajo Nation to book publishing, Burlesque, mental health, immigration and a look at the iconic 1940s photojournalist Weegee. Talks are held at Bread & Salt, San Diego City College, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, and online for select events.
Exhibitions:
Six photographic exhibitions organized by Medium Photo and held in conjunction with the 2023 festival include the prestigious Paris Photo / Aperture PhotoBook Award exhibition. Additional exhibitions cover topics such as on mental health, a youth photography showcase, the annual Size Matters exhibition, and two exhibitions celebrating scholarship recipients from our Black Artist and Northern Exposure scholarship recipients. Exhibitions are hosted at Bread & Salt, San Diego City and Mesa Colleges, UABC (Tijuana), and the Grossmont Healthcare District’s Health and Wellness Library.
Artist Studio Visits:
Eleven studio visits take place across San Diego and Tijuana, including one online studio visit and five performances inspired by photography at Lexi Pulido’s Tenam Studio.
Film screenings:
The 2023 Festival includes three film screenings including the west coast premiere of GRAIN, a film about the analog renaissance in photography. Film screenings take place at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and Digital Gym Cinema.
Workshops:
Five workshops are offered for a wide range of skill levels and interests, from cell phone video production to portraiture, mental health, cyanotypes (sun prints) and creative skill building. Workshops are held in Encinitas, at Bread & Salt, San Diego City College and online.
Online Events:
The 2023 Festival offers six events taking place virtually. These include a socially engaged, participatory art project that prepares people in recovery to be educators in resiliency. In addition, online events address topics from climate change to social activism and mental health. All online events are offered free and will be broadcast at San Diego City College in room V-101.
About the Medium Festival of Photography
Started by San Diego based artist scott b. davis, Medium Photo is a non-profit organization centered around an annual festival in spring of each year. We offer year-round resources to connect people of all interest levels with educational opportunities in photography. The annual festival brings photographers from across the globe for lectures, inspiration, collaboration, and infusing others with fresh ideas. Since 2012 we have been fueled by passion, spirited kindness, and unswerving dedication to excellence. Our mission is to connect us through photography and embrace its ability to transcend boundaries.
