PHILADELPHIA, PA.- The first of its kind in Philadelphia, 20/20 Photo Festival will offer virtual and in-person exhibitions and programming for photographers and the general public. With the theme History Informs the Contemporary, 20/20 will bring together a wide range of perspectives from emerging and established photographers from Philadelphia and beyond. The Festival will take place in Philadelphia and online during the month of September, with a core weekend of programming September 22–26. Programming will include exhibitions, workshops, artist talks, a community darkroom gathering, photo/book fair, collections visits, public cyanotype-making events, and gallery walkthroughs.

20/20 is producing three core exhibitions: Kei Ito: Road to Recovery at The Halide Project; Michael Froio: From the Mainline at Gravy Studio; and 20/20 Call for Entry Show, juried by Cynthia Rivera at Wanderlife Gallery. Festival partners will present satellite exhibitions during the month: 3808 Lancaster Gallery, Big Day Film Collective, Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia Photo Arts Center/Crane Arts Hallway, Philliput, Saint Joseph’s University Gallery, Stirner Modern, and Wyck Historic House, Garden & Farm—with gallery walkthroughs scheduled the core weekend.

Programming is scheduled throughout the month including; online artist talks/events which will feature artists Etinosa Yvonne, Kali Spitzer, and Emily Carris along with a virtual community darkroom gathering moderated by Halide Project cofounder Dale Rio. The festival will also offer free virtual collections visits will feature the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts, The Library Company of Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Workshops will take place both online (Presenting Your Work to the Fine Art Market, How to Choose Yourself as an Artist, Writing an Artist Statement) and in person (Tri-Color Gum Bichromate, Bookbinding for Non-Silver, Experimental Cyanotypes, Photo As Object).

The Festival will also include a Photo/Book Fair at Cherry Street Pier September 25. This FREE event will gather a wide variety of photographic art under one roof—from photographers, publishers, booksellers, galleries, and dealers/collectors. 20/20 is also planning a FREE citywide public cyanotype-making event September 12 at various locations including Penn Treaty Park and Rittenhouse in celebration of World Cyanotype Day. Participants can try their hand at this historic process—initially used to make blueprints—and opt to display their finished images in a popup exhibit at the Photo Book Fair.

The 20/20 Photo Festival was conceptualized by a small but dedicated group of Philadelphia-area photographers and photo organizations, including members from Gravy Studio, The Halide Project, and Wanderlife Gallery. The Festival provides opportunities for the exchange of ideas and artistic expression, in a local, national, and international context—reflecting the diversity of contemporary photography and its roots in the historical. 20/20 presented an online preview in September 2020, and September 2021 will be the inaugural year for the full-scale Festival, in hybrid form.