PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIES CLUB

Filter Photo welcomes photobook enthusiasts, artists, and observers of visual culture to Photography Studies Club, a casual monthly gathering hosted by Kristie Kahns, alongside current Filter Photo Fellow, Kenn Cook Jr.  Each session will present a curated selection of books for discussion and suggested readings of current scholarship to consider urgent and provocative questions in the contemporary photographic field. We will view monographic publications, exhibition catalogues, and edited volumes about the history and theory of photography to examine narrative form, production qualities, curatorial themes, and the resonances across different artists’ practices.

Guest speakers and facilitators will add distinct perspectives to each month's discussion. Refreshments will be served. RSVP strongly encouraged; registered attendees will receive links to suggested readings prior to the gathering.

About the Host

Kristie Kahns works in the photographic field as an educator, image-maker, writer, and independent researcher, based in Chicago. Her interests include contemporary approaches to photographic materiality, and the pedagogy of analogue and historical processes. Her writing has been published by Sixty Inches From Center and Bridge Chicago magazine. She is a recipient of the 2025 Elaine Ling Research Fellowship from The Image Centre at Toronto Metropolitan University. She received an MA in Arts Administration and Policy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and holds a BA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago.