On View: October 3 – November 1, 2026
Opening reception: Saturday, October 3, 5–8pm
Organized by PHOCUS, Vassar College’s photography club and community darkroom, this exhibition aims to explore the theme of “closeness” through a diverse collection of student works. The artists seek to understand how photography can be not only a tool of documentation, but also a point of connection between people on both sides of the camera. Photographic practice can take many forms, but the closeness of the photographer to their subjects—both physically and emotionally—plays an indisputable role in shaping the moments captured by a camera. The photographs in this exhibit show a combination of friends, acquaintances, and strangers, places familiar and foreign. Can the relationship between subjects, or between subject and photographer, be discerned from a single static image? Can the closeness of a person to a place be exposed from the way they choose to capture it? How does proximity of a camera to living subjects alter the nature of the moment that is captured? Our selections represent our attempt to address these questions and to provoke a renewed engagement with the photographer-subject relationship.
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. PHOCUS also maintains the student-run Baldeck Darkroom, loans cameras, and aims to make photography—particularly film photography—more accessible to the wider student body.
Curated by Sofía Abrahamson, Grace Cabasco, Audrey Amblard – ’27; Amritha Dewan – ’28; and Madeline Miles Myers – ‘29.
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
Ella Sheidley ‘26
Audrey Amblard ‘27
Sofía Abrahamson ‘27
Aviva Barry ‘27
Grace Cabasco ‘27
Peter Chu ‘27
Julian Balsley ‘28
Amritha Dewan ‘28
Aria Kuklinski ‘28
Rosalie Perkinson ‘28
Miles Myers ‘29
Mae Resnick ‘30
About the Community Gallery
CPW’s Community Gallery is a new space dedicated to fostering connections between diverse local communities using photography. It will host a rotating schedule of short-run exhibitions featuring work by CPW members, local artist collectives, student groups, and projects by local nonprofit organizations. CPW is committed to being a welcoming hub for critical and creative explorations of photography from varied perspectives.
Banner image: Sofía Abrahamson
Grid (from left to right): Amritha Dewan (1, 2), Aviva Barry (3, 4), Ella Shiedley, Grace Cabasco, Sofía Abrahamson.
