“In May 2023, the Houston Center for Photography collaborated with the Menil Collection to present an advanced photographic workshop inspired by the exhibition The Curatorial Imagination of Walter Hopps (on view at the Menil from March 24-August 13, 2023). Selected participants received a curator-led tour of the exhibition that highlighted the photographs on view as well as works in other media that incorporate aspects of photography. Special attention was paid to three pioneers of street photography in the United States: William Christenberry, William Eggleston, and Walker Evans. Each of these artists captured images of everyday life without prearranged staging and avoided technical or darkroom manipulations. In this way they reflected something of their “zeitgeist” meaning “the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time.”

Students participating in the workshop were challenged to illustrate an imagined article about contemporary American culture, using color, light, composition, and symbolism to reflect the current zeitgeist. With no restrictions on subject matter or technical choices, the ten participants created a wide variety of responses. Some illustrate the commodities and infrastructure that surround us and how these shape our bodies, families, and environments. Others address the current omnipresence of images and screens. Through collage and other technical manipulations, they comment on how this oversaturation might impact us physically and psychologically. Still other participants turn their lenses on themselves or their communities to explore their identity within Houston’s multicultural present. With a breadth of approaches, these photographers evoke the complexity of their own zeitgeist.”  

– Clare Elliott

Associate Research Curator the Menil Collection