The Museum Of Contemporary Photography: A Hidden Gem

The Museum of Contemporary Photography has also evolved over the past two decades. The Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP) is celebrating its 45th anniversary. It has become an expert in harnessing the power and influence of images and art to bring about social change. You could easily miss it on a regular day while driving down Michigan Avenue. The sign hanging from a building flanked with skyscrapers along a 13-mile stretch known as the Magnificent Mile and Gold Coast district might be missed by passersby.

Michigan Avenue hosts some of Chicago’s top attractions: Millennium and Grant Parks, as well as the Chicago Water Tower and John Hancock Center. In the shadow of this building is the only museum dedicated to photography in the Midwest, the Museum of Contemporary Photography.

The MoCP is unique in the world of museums of contemporary art. The MoCP has a reputation as an innovative, tri-leveled museum that is always at the forefront of art. The MoCP was founded in 1976 by Columbia College Chicago. It is a hub for the contemporary photography world, where emerging artists can launch their careers or established artists can test out new ideas. The MoCP is home to an impressive collection of more than 16,000 images by over 1500 artists around the world. It is also a classroom where the Chicagoland Community and Columbia College students can engage in discussion with some of the most influential artists who display their work all year long.

The MoCP has also evolved over the past two decades. The technological revolution has made photography accessible to a wide range of artists. The MoCP is the place where they can develop their creative ideas and gain experience. The MoCP, which is celebrating its 45th anniversary, has mastered the ability to harness art and imagery as a tool for social change.

Emerging Artists

Before Alec Soth became a Mcknight Fellow, with his work in public and private collections of art, he had been a Minneapolis-based emerging photographer searching for a shot. Karen Irvine, a newly appointed curator at MoCP, had been invited to visit another artist in Minneapolis. Soth was hopeful that Irvine would also meet him to see his work. Soth persuaded Irvine to view his website during their phone call.

Irvine said that “the minute his website opened, this amazing photo appeared and then another, and I was ready to say, ‘Yes! I will meet you.”

It is well-known that the photo of a young man next to his cabin in Vasa, Minnesota, which was part of his project Slumbering by Mississippi, includes landscapes as well as portraits. Soth’s career was launched when he was invited to exhibit his first exhibition at the MoCP. A gallery owner in Berlin, who happened to see Soth’s exhibition at the MoCP, became his first commercial dealer. Sixteen years after that, Soth continues to earn a living from photography with the same dealer.

Soth describes the MoCP as “unique” in the world of photography and a “rare early champion” since it was the first institution that exhibited his work.

Leading The Way

Natasha Egan took a class on photo history at the University of Washington in 1995. The (then-) curator of photography from the Seattle art gallery taught the course. The professor projected a picture of an Ansel Adam landscape with white boulders in front of the Sierra Nevada. Egan was confident that she knew the answer when the professor asked the class where Ansel Adams stood to take the photo. Adams was in a boulder field, taking pictures of the mountains. The professor replied, “Well, actually, he was inside the Japanese internment camps in Manzanar 1944, photographing through the fencing.” He suggested that Adams had used this image to express what he thought the Japanese were saying. “They’re Americans, and they are prisoners.”

At the time, Egan was familiar with representational photographs. She was familiar with the work of nature, documentary, and photojournalist photographers, which are featured in periodicals such as National Geographic, Life, and both visually document events and subjects. She was familiar with the commercial photography used in advertising and fashion. What she hadn’t considered, at her highest level of awareness, was the work of photographers who intentionally expressed their subjective views through the lens of the camera. This new revelation, which Egan discovered in an art history course, was a game changer. This was the beginning of a new understanding of photography. She was hooked. Egan was instantly inspired to write her paper on the role photography played in colonialism. The newfound understanding that photography is not only meant to record but also to question the world took on a life of its own. Egan’s teacher saw her talent and was impressed by her interest in photography. He thought that she would gain more from a deeper study of contemporary photography. He introduced Egan to the director of MoCP, and, well, the rest is history.

Egan was a graduate student at Columbia, earning a Master’s in Museum Studies as well as an MFA in photography while working as the MoCP’s director’s assistant. She is now the executive director of the Museum of Contemporary Photography, 25 years after she first started. Egan searches for artists whose work brings her back to that moment in class.

Karen Irvine, Chief Curator at the MoCP, is also Egan’s co-creator. In the art community, they are known by the Natasha & Karen Show. Their ideas are like wine and cheese pairing. They have become masters in their field after nearly two decades of teaching, winning awards for organizing exhibitions, and judging numerous national and international exhibitions. They have built a reputation in the contemporary photography world through professional networks.

A Teaching Museum

The MoCP, as a teaching institution, serves a wide range of students in Chicago. The MoCP attracts thousands of students through its teen programs, workshops led by artists, and bus subsidy for underserved schools.

Irvine understands how important it is for students to have access to arts in their youth. She says it is important to share with the next generation the rich and wonderful dialogues the museum can foster. Irvine says photography is a great medium to introduce young audiences too because they relate to it. It allows us to show that students don’t need to be passionate or knowledgeable about art in order to have a meaningful art experience.

The current exhibit at the museum, Fertility, Health, and Agency, explores the emotional, psychological, and physical realities that people face in the years before, during, and following fertility. This exhibition includes 8 women who discuss issues such as childbirth, health disparities, trauma, and loss of fertility.

Since its founding, the museum has focused on issues related to social justice and equity. The museum’s exhibit in the fall of 2020 asked What does democracy look like? An upcoming exhibition will examine gun violence, a topic that is close to the heart of Chicago.

Pandemic uncertainty has affected many industries, including museums. However, it has also created new opportunities. You can view the museum’s programming and exhibits online and access its collection. Visitors from all over the world can now experience programming and museum exhibits that were once restricted to physical spaces. This new change is promising.

Egan and Irvine are optimistic as they look forward to the next 45 years of the museum. Egan, when he reflected on the future, said: “Technology opened doors for our field that I could not have imagined.” I’m excited to see what comes next.