FotoFocus Announces Big Tent Opening of FotoFocus Center

FotoFocus is proud to announce Big Tent, the inaugural exhibition at its newly built FotoFocus Center, a 14,700 square foot venue designed specifically to host photographic exhibitions and year-round programming. Open to the public, the exhibition brings together work by over fifty artists, reflecting on the current state of American democracy while exploring the power of photography as a tool for social reflection and change.

Inspired in part by Amanda Gorman’s poem In This Place (An American Lyric), Big Tent adopts the metaphor of the “big tent”—a term often used in politics to describe inclusion of diverse viewpoints—as a lens through which to view American civic life. The exhibition celebrates the complexity, contradictions, and aspirational ideals of democracy, showcasing a variety of photographic styles and formats that span multiple decades. Rather than presenting a uniform perspective, the show embraces the diversity of contemporary America, positioning it as a point of pride and a subject for reflection and dialogue.

Artists featured in Big Tent include luminaries such as Robert Frank, Dawoud Bey, Catherine Opie, Trevor Paglen, An-My Lê, Paul Strand, Judy Dater, Robert Mapplethorpe, Elliott Jerome Brown, Jr., Sheila Pree Bright, and Alec Soth, among many others. Their works range from portraiture and documentary to conceptual and experimental photography, each contributing a unique perspective on identity, community, and civic life.

The FotoFocus Center, designed by Cincinnati-based architecture studio JOSE GARCIA DESIGN + CONSTRUCTION, is situated in the Mount Auburn neighborhood at Liberty and Sycamore Streets. The building marries historical architectural elements—like corbelled brick and factory-style windows—with contemporary design, while also embedding references to photography itself. From the west-to-east shift in material colors, the gridded staircase evoking a camera viewfinder, to expansive windows filling public spaces with natural light, the facility embodies both the practical and poetic aspects of photographic practice.

Big Tent sets the tone for FotoFocus’s mission: to foster dialogue, celebrate the medium, and highlight photography’s role in shaping cultural understanding. The exhibition invites visitors to reflect on America’s ideals, challenges, and the transformative potential of images in civic life.




About FotoFocus
FotoFocus is a Cincinnati-based nonprofi t arts organization that champions photography and lens-based art through exhibitions and public programming. Since 2010, the organization has engaged art and educational institutions throughout the region to support and expand the cultural dialogue around the medium that has come to defi ne our time. With an emphasis on intellectually and academically rigorous programs, the organization provides uniquely enriching access to lens-based art, fi lm and practices inspired by photography. FotoFocus has collaborated with organizations, curators, academics and more than 3,500 artists and participants, to present over 800 exhibitions and programs. In 2026, FotoFocus Center will open, a 14,700 square foot facility dedicated to the presentation of exhibitions and related programming.

Signature FotoFocus programs include the Biennial, which has been held in October since 2012, most recently taking place in 2024 with the theme backstories. Past editions have presented work across the Cincinnati region by historic and contemporary artists, including Berenice Abbott, Eugène Atget, John Edmonds, Roe Ethridge, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, David Hartt, Baseera Khan, Zanele Muholi, Tony Oursler, Barbara Probst, Thomas Ruff , Ming Smith, Ian Strange, Chip Thomas and Akram Zaatari. Other landmark programs include the Symposium, which has contributed signifi cant dialogue and insight to culturally relevant topics including the controversial Mapplethorpe exhibition and the Lecture and Visiting Artist Series, which has brought globally renowned artists such as Sky Hopinka, Zoe Leonard, William Wegman and Roger Ross Williams to Cincinnati.