Skip to content

PhotoWork Foundation

Jess T. Dugan & Charlotte Cotton

Photographer Jess T. Dugan and writer Charlotte Cotton join PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf to discuss their 2 volume book, Love Pictures, published by Radius Books. Developed through their friendship and an ongoing dialogue between Dugan and Cotton, Love Pictures explores key themes shaping Dugan’s photographic practice, including gender and identity, family and politics, writing and language, the photobook as object, and the dynamics of exhibition spaces. These conversations expand outward to include voices from their broader creative communities, featuring contributors such as Dawoud Bey, Kelli Connell, and Dorothy Moss. In this episode, Jess, Charlotte, and Sasha discuss how this project evolved from an intimate exchange into a comprehensive survey of Dugan’s work.

Ed Templeton

Photographer and artist Ed Templeton joins PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf to reflect on his evolution from professional skateboarder to photographer and painter, and how early influences like Nan Goldin and Larry Clark shaped his approach to documenting his own life. Templeton discusses his photobook Wires Crossed (Aperture), an intimate look at skate culture from an insider’s perspective, and his collaborative process with editor Lesley A. Martin. The conversation looks into Templeton’s hybrid analog and digital workflow and concludes with the development of Contemporary Suburbium (Nazraeli Press), an accordion style book, made in collaboration with his wife, photographer Deanna Templeton, highlighting his ongoing engagement with the photobook and everyday subject matter.

Curran Hatleberg

Photographer and educator Curran Hatleberg returns to PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf to discuss his latest monograph, Blood Green (TBW Books).
Hatleberg reflects on how the photobook emerged from images left out of his earlier publication, River’s Dream, and how revisiting those omissions opened a new way of thinking about editing, continuity, and the evolving life of a body of work.
He speaks about the ethics at the center of his practice, an engagement with people grounded in mutual curiosity and respect, and the role of presence, both with and without the camera. Now balancing his life as an artist, partner, and father, Hatleberg considers how time reshapes practice. The episode concludes with a meditation on art making as a form of self-portraiture, a record of who we were at a given moment.

Ocean Vuong

Ocean Vuong, poet, essayist, novelist, educator, and photographer, joins PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf for an in-depth conversation about his solo photography exhibition Sống and the accompanying photobook, presented at CPW. In this episode, Vuong reflects on storytelling across mediums, creative practice, and the discipline behind writing and photography. Drawing from his life experience, he speaks candidly about process, vulnerability, and the courage required to share work publicly. This episode offers grounded insight for artists who question their creative voice or the value of presenting their work.

Alejandro Cartagena

In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Alejandro Cartagena returns to discuss his mid-career solo exhibition Ground Rules at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, along with the accompanying book published by Aperture. Alejandro and Sasha dig into how both the exhibition and the book came together, from concept to execution. He also reflects on the lasting impact of his seminal project Carpoolers, and how it shaped his thinking around photography, technology, and intent. The conversation expands to the broader cultural stakes of the medium, including Alejandro’s recent investigations into AI-generated imagery.

Announcing the 2026 PhotoWork Junior Fellows

Introducing the 2026 PhotoWork Junior Fellows. From January through June, six emerging photographers will develop a body of work under the guidance of a dedicated mentor, refining their artistic voices and clarifying their vision.

Celebrating the 2025 PhotoWork Senior Fellows

We are pleased to announce the conclusion of the 2025 PhotoWork Senior Fellowship. Over six months, Fellows worked closely with their dedicated advisors to adapt a personal photographic project into the photo book format. Through focused mentorship, they engaged deeply with the practical and conceptual considerations of photo book production, including editing, design, printing, and publishing, culminating in a maquette of their book project.

José Ibarra Rizo

Atlanta, Georgia | Advisor: Ron Jude José Ibarra Rizo (American, born Mexico, b. 1992) is a lens-based artist based in Atlanta, GA. His work explores cultural memory, migration, and identity, with a focus on the migrant experience in the American South. He was awarded the inaugural… Read More »José Ibarra Rizo