Silver Eye Center for Photography

04/29/2025

On May 2nd between 6–9pm, join Scholars Gia Abucejo, Ka’Ori Frazier Sayles, Jacey Lozada, and Jean Ortiz for a pop-up exhibition and zine workshop at The Lab @ Silver Eye (5228 Penn Ave) during Unblurred: First Fridays!
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Explore an exhibition themed around arranging disparate practices and finding unexpected connections between them. Then, dive into the accompanying zine workshop, where you’re invited to create your own assemblage of ideas and images in a collaborative, hands-on space.
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No materials or experience needed—just bring your curiosity and an open mind.

04/24/2025

Read Tara Fay Coleman’s thoughtful review, The Archive as Liberation Allows for Unresolved Truths, just published in Petrichor! petrichorpittsburgh.com/2025/04/23/silver-eye-archive/

Coleman reflects on our recent exhibition The Archive as Liberation, co-curated with Aaron R. Turner, and how artists Andre Bradley, calista lyon, Raymond Thompson Jr., Harrison D. Walker, and Savannah Wood are reshaping the archive into a living, communal practice.

“Each artist here engages the archive not as a static repository, but as a living, shifting terrain where absence speaks as loudly as presence. There’s something especially powerful about seeing Black and Indigenous artists use the archive in this way. It’s stretched, re-written, and questions what has been recorded and what’s been deliberately omitted.”

Thank you to Tara Fay Coleman and Petrichor for this thoughtful and powerful review of The Archive as Liberation—and to everyone who engaged with the exhibition or joined us for the accompanying programming, thank you!

Silver Eye Center for Photography is free + open to the public ✨

Image credit: Tara Geyer

04/23/2025

Our gallery is currently closed as we deinstall The Archive as Liberation and install Fellowship 25—but there's still plenty happening at Silver Eye!

Online Exhibition: Don't miss our online exhibition, In Conversation with Nakeya Brown, on view April 9–June 9, 2025. This exhibition features a dialogue between artist Nakeya Brown and Silver Eye Scholar Ka'Ori Frazier-Sayles, delving into themes of Black womanhood, beauty standards, and cultural identity through still life and portrait photography.

Upcoming Event: Join us for the Silver Eye Salon on Friday, April 25, 2025, 6–8pm at the Education Center. This month's salon features a captivating tintype demonstration by Mac Cosgrove-Davies.

Upcoming Exhibition: Mark your calendar—Fellowship 25 opens May 8th! Stay tuned for more details.

Visit the link below to register and learn more, linktr.ee/silvereyecenter

Image 1: Nakeya Brown, Hot Comb and Mitten from Hair Stories Untold, 2014.

Image 2: Nakeya Brown, Art of Sealing Ends (Part II) from Hair Stories Untold, 2014.

Image 3: Nakeya Brown, The Art of Sealing Ends from Hair Stories Untold, 2014.

Images courtesy of the artist.

04/18/2025

Help ensure photographers are well-represented! The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts has partnered with the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design to explore the needs and opportunities of Pennsylvania’s creative workforce and the broader creative industries. The survey is part of this larger research project that seeks to better understand the people and jobs that comprise Pennsylvania’s creative workforce and creative industries.

One week left to share your feedback as someone who does creative work or works in the creative industries!
We want to hear from you!
Please take this survey to help Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) get a better understanding of PA's creative workforce and creative industries.
This survey will take approximately 10 minutes. We will ask you about the type of work you do, factors affecting your professional success, and some demographic and economic information. Your responses will contribute to research on the Commonwealth’s workforce that may help support creative professionals in the future.
🔗 Start the survey now: https://upenn.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2csZaUcP2UYRpgq
This research is being conducted by the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design on behalf of the PCA.

04/16/2025

The Archive as Liberation is on exhibit through April 19!

These are the final days to experience work by Andre Bradley, calista lyon, Raymond Thompson Jr., Harrison D. Walker, and Savannah Wood—each offering diverse perspectives on how archives can reshape understandings of the past and empower how we envision the future.

Savannah Wood is our final artist highlight. Wood is an artist with deep roots in Baltimore and Los Angeles, using photography, text, and installation to explore how spirituality, domesticity, and relationships to place shape identities. Her multimedia project Hard to Get and Dear Paid For examines the life and legacy of Enoch George Howard, an enslaved man born in 1814 near Unity, Maryland. In his lifetime, Howard came to own the land where he and his family were held captive, including a parcel called Hard to Get and Dear Paid For. After his death, his daughter Martha used proceeds from his estate to invest in her husband’s business, the influential Afro-American Newspaper. As the Executive Director of Afro Charities, Wood works to increase access to the 130+-year-old AFRO-American Newspapers’ extensive archives. Like four generations of ancestors before her, she lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland, sharing and preserving Black stories.

Silver Eye Center for Photography is free + open to the public

The Archive as Liberation exhibition and symposium is produced with sponsorship support from Duolingo.

Image credits: Tara Geyer and Sean Carroll

04/11/2025

The Archive as Liberation is open for one more week—stay tuned as we highlight the final two artists in the coming days!

Andre Bradley is based in Philadelphia and utilizes photography, installation, and experimental lectures as forms of ideological resistance that foreground lived experiences of Blackness against the background of art.

“Thank you so much for visiting The Archive as Liberation at Silver Eye. In my work, Where's Walter? (Gentle on my Mind), I asked a viewer to play a game. In appearing images, I created a digital cutout of Walter Scott, that runs, quote unquote. Walter runs outside the local news frame where we usually encounter his and others’ experiences. In the piece, the figure is cut from its history and collaged into an image text treatment of the classic children's book Where's Waldo, creating an impression of the public haunt of unarmed black women and men killed by police. Images culled from our public archives are set to a soundtrack of songs by NWA (100 Miles and Running), Frank Sinatra and Aretha Franklin, respectfully, gentle on my mind. Enjoy.”

The Archive As Liberation is on exhibit through April 19

Silver Eye Center for Photography is free + open to the public

The Archive as Liberation exhibition and symposium is produced with sponsorship support from Duolingo.

Image credits: Tara Geyer and Sean Carroll

04/09/2025

As The Archive as Liberation continues, we’re excited to share in more detail about each artist’s practice in the coming weeks.

Harrison D. Walker is an artist in the Greater Boston area and the Manager of Studio Operations for the Digital Imaging and Visual Resources Department at Harvard Art Museums.

“Footnotes is a living archive of prints based on documents and images which explore the unknown, the edge of civilization and the frontier, using the v2 rocket as a vessel for investigation. Driven by interests and the intersections of the printed object, the archive, chemistry, astronomy, and chance, much of the content and footnotes is appropriated or inspired by things found in public and personal archives. What secrets lie beyond the horizon or in the dark expanses of deep space? What do those secrets look like? What do they reveal about the universe, about us? Footnotes is meant to lead us further into the unknown by exploring the ideas and technologies foundational to space exploration.”

The Archive As Liberation is on exhibit through April 19

Silver Eye Center for Photography is free + open to the public

The Archive as Liberation exhibition and symposium is produced with sponsorship support from Duolingo.

Image credits: Tara Geyer and Sean Carroll

02/04/2025

Join our team! Communications and Operations Manager

Silver Eye Center for Photography, a 501(c)3 nonprofit in Pittsburgh, PA, seeks a Communications and Operations Manager to join a small, nimble team passionate about contemporary photography and the arts in community. The ideal candidate will have experience creating and managing marketing campaigns and fundraising communications at a nonprofit organization and will be eager to engage the public around Silver Eye’s mission. This role is responsible for implementing communications strategy to effectively convey Silver Eye’s story and grow our engagement across broad audiences, and for supporting operations across the organization. This is a 32 hour/week onsite position with PTO, health insurance, and an IRA with match.

Applicants please submit a PDF cover letter and resume and two work references by email with the subject line “Communications and Operations Manager” to Leo Hsu, Executive Director: [email protected]. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis through February 24, 2025.

Please see pdf linked on this page for full details:
https://silvereye.org/events/join-our-team-communications-and-operations-manager

01/08/2025

Join artist Priya Suresh Kambli Thursday 1/9 at the main gallery at 6pm for an informal exhibition tour and talk about her work in Passages.

Free registration:
https://silvereye-bloom.kindful.com/e/artist-talk-with-priya-suresh-kambli

Image: Priya Kambli, Objects of Devotion 2024, cyanotype, from Devhara

12/23/2024

Enable artists and communities to imagine a new future through photography!

We are so excited for the year to come, with The Archive As Liberation, Fellowship 25, Radial Survey Vol.4, and more.

Your support makes these programs possible, creating financial, material, and curatorial support for emerging artists, and building community around The Lab @ Silver Eye.

Every contribution makes a difference towards making our programs possible.

We are grateful to Arts, Equity, & Education Fund, which has committed $5000 to match your contributions this season!

Make a tax-deductible gift to Silver Eye today!

Donate online through the link in the bio or mail a check to Silver Eye Center for Photography, 4808 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh PA 15224.

Thank you for your support!

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Captions:

(1-2) Merle Masked, 2024, and Fractured Merle, 2024 featured in o_Man! by Kelli Connell and Natalie Krick, an innovative response to the legacies of Edward Steichen and The Family of Man. All of Silver Eye’s exhibitions are original and give artists the opportunity to advance their practice and take risks.

(3) The Radial Survey Vol.3 Symposium brought artists, curators, and educators together for deep, rich conversation about artmaking. Watch for Radial Survey Vol.4 in 2025, celebrating the most exciting
and compelling new photography made within 300 miles of Pittsburgh.

(4-5) Silver Eye brings vital artistic voices to the public. Fellowship has supported new voices in photography for more than twenty years. Fellowship 25 opens in May.

(6) Benefit Auction 24 featured works by artists supporting Silver Eye with print donations. The sixty-seven artists in the preview exhibition represented the incredible range of contemporary photography.

(7) Passages with Priya Suresh Kambli and Vivian Poey is on exhibit through February 8, 2025. Here Vivian leads a workshop in November. Join us on January 9, 2025 to meet Priya Kambli in the gallery!

(8) Through regular events at The Lab @ Silver Eye like meetups, Salon, and pop-up exhibitions, Silver Eye supports artists and communities to imagine new futures through photography.

12/23/2024

As 2024 comes to a close and we look ahead to the new year, we are filled with gratitude. We deeply appreciate the artists we collaborate with, whose vital work we are honored to share and support. We’re thankful for our vibrant community, who connect with this art and with one another through our programs. To our supporters, donors, foundations, and partners—your belief in our mission makes all of this possible!

Silver Eye will be closed from December 23 through January 1, reopening on January 2. Visit the main gallery tomorrow to explore Passages from 11am-5pm before the closure!

Thank you for all the experiences we’ve shared in 2024. We look forward to many more in 2025!

Leo, Helen, Sean and the Silver Eye board

Image credit: Border, 2024 by Vivian Poey in Passages with Priya Suresh Kambli and Vivian Poey.

12/03/2024

Today is Giving Tuesday. Give Big Pittsburgh! $5000 match!

https://www.givebigpittsburgh.com/organizations/silver-eye-center-for-photography

Dear friends,

Art starts conversations and we are proud to support emerging artists who bring a breadth of personal experiences and critical imagination to urgent questions that so many of us share. Art is also a focus of celebration, and we are honored that so many have found in Silver Eye a place to come together around photography, ideas, fellowship, and shared experiences of exploration, reflection, and connection.

Your gift to Silver Eye

+ enables us to give financial, material, and curatorial support to emerging artists, as they share their work with the public. Artists gain both experience and exposure through exhibiting at Silver Eye.

+ makes powerful art asking important questions accessible in our communities.

+ keeps gallery and community programs free to the public, providing a space for all to explore vital ideas in photography, hold direct conversation with artists, and to experiment creatively at The Lab @ Silver Eye.

Your contribution enables artists and communities to imagine new futures through photography.

We are grateful to Arts, Equity, and Education Fund, which has pledged a $5000 match of individual donations to Silver Eye! Help us unlock this match today!

Please give a gift of any amount to Silver Eye today and join us for an upcoming program, like tomorrow’s meetup with L. Kasimu Harris, or visit our current exhibition, Passages, with Priya Suresh Kambli and Vivian Poey.

On behalf of the staff and board of Silver Eye, thank you for your consideration and for your support.

In gratitude and community,

Leo Hsu
Executive Director

Images: Anthony Francis, Asia, Ash and Kahlil, Together, against and beside and/or Looking into Opacity, Houston, 2023 from Fellowship 24; Vania Evangelique shares works in progress at monthly Salon; Eduardo L. Rivera discusses his project Mohave at the Radial Survey Vol.3 symposium, photo by Tara Geyer

11/29/2024

Silver Eye’s Print Party is back!

The Lab @ Silver Eye
5228 Penn Ave #201
RESCHEDULED!
Now Tuesday December 18, 6:30-8:30pm

Do you have digital files that you’re ready to print? Come to Silver Eye's Print Party with your print-ready files and Jacob Pesci will print with you at Silver Eye’s Education Center. Come for the printing, stay for the snacks and good company! At Print Party we will print your digital files on Canon Pro Lustre paper. Pick up some photo tips and enjoy snacks and conversation as we optimize your image in Photoshop and produce black and white or color lustre prints as you watch.

Bring a friend! Browse the Silver Eye Library! Jumpstart your introduction to printing and take home a beautiful print of your photograph made by a professional printer! Visit The Lab @ Silver Eye and learn about becoming a Lab member!

Here’s how it works:
Register at the link below and send us up to two image files to be printed, and pay for the prints. Let us know approximately what time you will be coming so we can get a sense of timing. Suggest some music for us to play while you’re watching your print being made!

Canon Pro Lustre paper. Available sizes:

8.5x11 (recommended: 3000 pixels on the long side) - $12

13x19 (recommended: 5400 pixels on the long side) - $30

Register and submit your image below; the print limit is two prints per submission. We will print in the order that people arrive.

We reserve the right to not make a print for any reason, including if we believe that the file resolution does not meet a sufficient standard to produce a quality print. We may edit or crop your image in order to produce a better result. You must have the right to print the image. We will not print an image that is under someone else’s copyright.

Register and upload: https://form.jotform.com/24323716328615

11/29/2024

Meet alma_lewis_pgh resident artist L. Kasimu Harris for an informal meet and greet where he will talk about his work and share images from his Vanishing Black Bars & Lounges series. Kasimu Harris is currently an artist in Prospect.6: The Future Is Present, The Harbinger Is Home and in the forthcoming group exhibition New Photography 2025: Lines of Belonging at MoMA.

Join us on Wednesday, December 4, 6-7.30pm at The Lab @ Silver Eye Education Center (5228 Penn Ave).

Image credit: Ariel Wilson Harris

Register:https://silvereye.org/events/meet-l-kasimu-harris