Closeness: A PHOCUS Exhibition

Closeness: A PHOCUS Exhibition
Oct 3, 2026 – Nov 1, 2026

United States United States — Art Center
25 Dederick St
Kingston, NY 12401

The Center for Photography at Woodstock presents Closeness: A PHOCUS Exhibition, on view from 3 October through 1 November 2026, an exploration of how proximity—both physical and emotional—shapes the moments captured by a camera. Organized by PHOCUS, Vassar College's photography club and community darkroom, the exhibition brings together student works that examine the relationship between photographer and subject, asking whether closeness can be discerned from a single static image.

The photographs on display show a combination of friends, acquaintances, and strangers, places familiar and foreign. They consider how the closeness of a person to a place might be exposed through the way they choose to capture it, and how the proximity of a camera to living subjects alters the nature of the moment that is recorded. The selections represent an attempt to address these questions and to provoke a renewed engagement with the photographer-subject relationship, treating photography not only as a tool of documentation but as a point of connection between people on both sides of the lens.

PHOCUS, Vassar's only student-run photography organization, works to create a broad and inclusive photographic community for students through biweekly meetings, critiques, workshops, guest lectures, and the publication of FIX, an annual photobook of student photography. The group maintains the student-run Baldeck Darkroom, loans cameras, and aims to make photography—particularly film photography—more accessible to the wider student body. The exhibition is curated by Sofía Abrahamson, Grace Cabasco, Audrey Amblard (Class of 2027), Amritha Dewan (Class of 2028), and Madeline Miles Myers (Class of 2029).

Participating artists include Ella Sheidley (Class of 2026), Audrey Amblard, Sofía Abrahamson, Aviva Barry, Grace Cabasco, Peter Chu (all Class of 2027), Julian Balsley, Amritha Dewan, Aria Kuklinski, Rosalie Perkinson (all Class of 2028), Miles Myers (Class of 2029), and Mae Resnick (Class of 2030). Their work spans portraiture, landscape, documentary, and experimental approaches, united by an interest in how intimacy and distance operate within the photographic frame.

The show occupies CPW's Community Gallery, a new space dedicated to fostering connections between diverse local communities using photography. The gallery hosts a rotating schedule of short-run exhibitions featuring work by CPW members, local artist collectives, student groups, and projects by local nonprofit organizations. The Center for Photography at Woodstock, founded in 1977, is committed to being a welcoming hub for critical and creative explorations of photography from varied perspectives, offering exhibitions, workshops, and resources to photographers at all levels.

Image: © Sofía Abrahamson


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