This summer, CPW launches the first Upstate Photography Biennial, a landmark new exhibition series celebrating the diversity and vitality of photographic practices in upstate New York. Highlighting the extraordinary proliferation of creative cultural activity in the region, the exhibition will showcase the work of thirty-nine artists. The extensive exhibition, organized by CPW curators Marina Chao and Adam Giles Ryan, will open at CPW on Saturday, May 30, 2026, and be on view through September 6, 2026.
The Upstate Photography Biennial will spotlight the breadth and richness of contemporary photographic practices across the Hudson Valley and the upstate region. The goal of the ongoing series is to foster meaningful dialogue and community engagement around the evolving role of photographic work in the region.
Many of the Biennial artists work with historic photographic processes–tintypes, pinhole cameras, collages, cyanotypes, and meticulously crafted prints–underscoring the photograph as a physical object. At a time when most images appear only briefly on screens, this interest in archaic visual models is not simply a nostalgic throwback but a deliberate political choice of resistance.
Altogether, these works demonstrate how photography continues to shape our understanding of history, memory, vision, and realism in a rapidly changing world, where the notions of truth and stability may seem to be crumbling.
The Upstate Photography Biennial highlights CPW’s ongoing commitment to community. For nearly fifty years, CPW has celebrated photographic artists of the region and partnered with other local cultural organizations. This collective spirit is exemplified by its long-standing artist residency program Woodstock AIR, the Community Gallery, as well as its numerous partnerships across the region, including the Dorsky Museum of Art, My Kingston Kids, Kingston High School, Place Corps, Upstate Films, and the Woodstock Film Festival.
Coinciding with Upstate Art Weekend (June 25-29, 2026), the Biennial will offer participating artists valuable exposure to local audiences as well as to visitors from around New York State and beyond.
The Upstate Photography Biennial brings together artists who use photography to explore the most relevant issues of our time: identity and the meaning of place, healthcare and the fragility of the human body, climate change and the physical and psychic spaces we inhabit. For the artists in this exhibition, “upstate” describes not only a geographic region but also a condition of transition—between city and countryside, public life and private experience, past and present.
“Over the past decade, upstate New York has become a central node of the photography world in the U.S. The inaugural Upstate Photography Biennial at CPW aims to capture the extraordinary vibrance of this historic cultural moment and the phenomenal surge in creativity from this all-embracing community of artists.” – Brian Wallis · Executive Director, CPW
“The many thoughtful and ambitious artists included in the Upstate Photography Biennial reflect the remarkable strength of the photographic community that has taken root here.Our role at CPW is to recognize that work, support it, and make sure it’s seen.” – Adam Giles Ryan · Curator
39 Artists · Curated by Marina Chao & Adam Giles Ryan
CPW : Upstate Photography Biennial
May 30 – September 6, 2026
CPW
25 Dederick Street
Kingston, NY 12401
Thursday – Sunday · 11am–5pm · Free Admission
www.cpw.org
