This holiday season, shop PhotoAlliance and give the gift of photography while supporting a community-based non-profit!

 

HUMANKIND - FEATURED PRINTS

We hope you enjoy our Winter Collector Print offering! This season, we turn the lens to humankind: ups and downs, contradictions, and tenderness. A sampling from the spectrum of experience.

Artists included in this season's sale are fall speaker Wesaam Al-Badry with a powerful statement from his series Al-Kouture. Anni Löppönen where we spend a third of our lives. Leon Borensztein with some unique achievements. Lonnie Graham shares a proud portrait. Ed Grazda offers a hopeful moment. A glimpse of tranquility by Hiroyo Kaneko. A depiction of pantomiming life by Sage Sohier. And, as thanks for a recurring monthly donation, our gift to you: a book on first love by Jenny Riffle and Molly Landreth.

Our winter print sale is a fantastic way to support our community while sharing your love of the arts! Each print has been donated by the photographer listed, with the intent of sustaining our mission. We're very thankful for their contribution, and for yours! Thank you!

WESAAM AL-BADRY
AL-KOUTURE, LIBERTY, 2018

Archival pigment print, edition of 8
16 × 20" image on 17 × 22" sheet
Single print available (Edition 6 of 8)

Al Kouture examines the tension between Western consumerism and traditional Muslim culture, exploring how globalization and fashion intersect with cultural and religious identities. Wesaam Al-Badry repurposes vintage and contemporary silk scarves from luxury brands like Hermès and Gucci into niqabs, challenging the commodification of tradition and the contradictions between cultural, religious, and corporate interests.

By juxtaposing millennia-old practices with seasonal designer trends, Al-Badry investigates whether the Western world would accept the niqab if marketed as a luxury fashion item. Through this lens, the series questions the political economy of fabric, the objectification of women, and the ideological entanglements of modernity and tradition.

Wesaam Al-Badry shared his work with PhotoAlliance in 2024 and 2017, and his work is included in PhotoAlliance’s INSIGHT/INCITE 20/20 Portfolio.

 

ED GRAZDA
BAMIYAN, AFGHANISTAN, 1982

Archival pigment print
10 1/4 x 15 1/2" image on 13 x 19" sheet

Ed Grazda's Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 1982 captures a haunting moment in the rugged landscape of Bamiyan, framed by the shadows of history and conflict. Taken years before the destruction of the famed Buddha statues, the photograph offers a poignant glimpse into the region's rich cultural heritage and the lives of its people. Grazda’s lens documents the interplay of light, texture, and human presence in a terrain that has long been a crossroads of civilizations, evoking both the enduring beauty and fragility of a place shaped by centuries of change. Ed Grazda is a PhotoAlliance 2016 lecture artist.

SAGE SOHIER
SCULPTOR WITH MODEL OF CHUCK CLOSE IN HIS SUMMER STUDIO, NORWALK, CT, 2005

Archival pigment print
10" x 12 1/2" image on 11” x 14" sheet

Sage Sohier's photography opens a window onto the marvelous, onto what Surrealist artist and author André Breton called “the fabric of adorable improbabilities:" a world of adult fairy tales in which “fear, the attraction of the unusual, chance, (and) the taste for things extravagant" appear in surprising forms. Sohier's encounter with the marvelous takes us deep into private terrain, into a world of near-obsessive collections, hobbies, adornments, achievements, and attentions to detail. Her images register a desire for control and perfection in a world that - more often than not of late - seems to have slipped into chaos, destined for political and environmental ruin. Sage Sohier is a PhotoAlliance 2013 lecturer.

 

After emigrating from Poland to the United States, Leon Borensztein worked as a traveling portrait photographer, visiting homes and businesses across the country to create portraits for working-class clients, reminiscent of the Sears Portrait Studio style. During these sessions, he would set up a generic backdrop but deliberately position the camera to reveal glimpses of the subjects' personal spaces and belongings. American Portraits stands as a powerful sociological record, offering some of the most compelling and poignant portraits of its era. Leon Borensztein is a PhotoAlliance 2016 and 2007 lecturer, and his work is in PhotoAlliance’s INSIGHT/INCITE 20/20 Portfolio.

LONNIE GRAHAM
MAN WITH FOOD FOR COW, MUGUGA, KENYA, 1982

Archival pigment print
18 x 24" image on 22 x 28" sheet

Lonnie Graham’s project A Conversation with the World establishes a photographic record and an audio recorded dialogue around common issues relative to the human condition and seeks to delve beneath the superficial patina of cultural differences to explore the essential and fundamental motivations of human beings in order to clearly illustrate the bond that is inherently our humanity.

Lonnie Graham is a Exacutive Director Emeritus of PhotoAlliance.

 

HIROYO KANEKO
SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION, 2007

Chromogenic print
18" x 14" image on 20" x 16" sheet

Appearance is a portrait project begun in 2010 by Hiroyo Kaneko that depicts people while they are singing. By photographing the act of singing, Kaneko attempts to capture both the uniqueness and commonality of each subject. People convey their emotions when they sing, and in the process a variety of expressions and gestures appear and disappear, sometimes unexpectedly. They seem to stand right at the threshold of self-expression and self-consciousness. Kaneko’s subjects are adults and children whom she mostly encountered while living in San Francisco and Oakland, and each selected their own song to perform. Hiroyo Kaneko is a PhotoAlliance 2007 lecturer.

ANNI LÖPPÖNEN
UNTITLED, 2010

Archival pigment print
16 1/2 x 11 3/4" image on 19 x 13" sheet

Anni Löppönen's It Looks Like Snow is a contemplative exploration of memory, loss, and the fleeting nature of time. Through intimate and ethereal imagery, Löppönen captures the delicate interplay between the external world and inner emotional landscapes. The series weaves together moments of stillness and transformation, evoking a sense of quiet nostalgia while reflecting on the impermanence of life and the beauty found in its fragility. Anni Löppönen is a PhotoAlliance 2010 lecturer.

FOR RECURRING DONORS: OUR GIFT TO YOU

JENNY RIFFLE AND MOLLY LANDRETH
IT’S RAINING . . . I LOVE YOU: SELF-PORTRAITS

Published by Minor Matters, 2020
Hardcover, 128 pages with gatefold, 50 black and white and 40 color images
ISBN 978-1-732124-18-9

SIGN UP BELOW!

This co-authored book by photographers Jenny Riffle and Molly Landreth celebrates first love, enduring friendship, and a shared devotion to photography. Featuring black-and-white images from the summer of 1999 and letters from their college years, it captures the precious and everyday moments of early adulthood, showcasing the creative bond between two unique yet complementary artists.

Insight/Incite 20/20 Anniversary Portfolio

PhotoAlliance is proud to present the portfolio INSIGHT/INCITE 20/20 as a tribute to our twenty years of service to the Bay Area photography community, and as a foundation for our future!

Curated by PhotoAlliance founder and creative director Linda Connor, this portfolio includes 20 signed limited edition prints by local, regional and international photographers.

Available at second tier pricing of $3,000. Please contact kristy@photoalliance.org