FotoFest

FotoFest is a non-profit arts and education organization based in Houston, Texas

Created in 1984 as the first international photography event of its kind in the United States, FotoFest was influenced by art and cultural festivals such as the Rencontres International de le Photographie in Arles, France.

FotoFest is mostly known for its biennial festival, which takes place during The Spring of even numbered years. The next festival is scheduled for March/April 2008.

Past Festivals and Themes

  • FOTOFEST1986
  • FOTOFEST1988
  • FOTOFEST1990
  • FOTOFEST1992 - Europe and Latin America 1860-1992
  • FOTOFEST1994 - American Voices, Latino Photography in the U.S., The Global Environment, Fashion, Evolution/Revolution
  • FOTOFEST1996 - Discover Art, Discover The City
  • FOTOFEST1998
  • FOTOFEST2000
  • FOTOFEST2002 - The Classical Eye and Beyond (historical photography and new media art)
  • FOTOFEST2004 - Celebrating Water. Exploring the Global Crisis.
  • FOTOFEST2006 - The Earth & Artists Responding to Violence

Upcoming Festivals

FOTOFEST2008 - CHINA

FotoFest is dedicating its Twelfth international Biennial, FOTOFEST2008 to CHINA and a related theme, TRANSFORMATIONS.

Inter-Biennial Programs

In addition to its Biennial exhibitions, FotoFest presents between three and five exhibitions in the "off year" and can thus call itself a year-round arts venue.

In the past FotoFest has mounted several important exhibitions outside of the biennial including an exhibition of photographs from Mother Jones Magazine and State of the Blues by photographer Jeff Dunas. In Fall 2002, FotoFest brought to Houston as part of the official 9-11 commemoration, Here is New York, a democracy of photographs, the acclaimed 9-11 exhibition that originated in a storefront window in lower Manhattan. In 2005, they presented NAZAR, a comprehensive overview of historical and contemporary views of the Arab world by Arab and Western photographers. Most recently, in early 2007, FotoFest mounted GUANTANÁMO. Pictures from Home. Questions of Justice., a unique exhibit of photographs, video and audio that examined the notorious U.S. detention center from the perspective of detainees, their families and the U.S. lawyers representing them.

All of FotoFest's programming, Biennial or otherwise, is accompanied by peripheral programming such as artist/curator talks and symposia.

Here is New York was accompanied by a separate month-long film and video series that included videos by Jem Cohen among others.

International Programs

FotoFest has strong international ties, stemming in part to from its founders Fred Baldwin and Wendy Watriss, both of whom had been photojournalists and worked around the world for both U.S. and international publications.

This world-view has led to strong collaborations with Latin American, European and Asian groups, curators and artists. In 2003 fotoFest was asked to travel several of its most important past exhibitions, including Here is New York to Russia for exhibitions in Moscow and Samara.

In 2006, FotoFest recreated, with the assistance of several Chinese partners, its internationally acclaimed portfolio review, The Meeting Place, in Beijing. FotoFest invited a select group of international reviewers to Meeting Place FotoFest Beijing 2006.