MEDIA RELEASE Rhonda Wilson Award Announced The 2020 Rhonda Wilson Award has been awarded to Jerry Takigawa receives the following prize package: Jerry Takigawa, for his series Balancing Cultures, which will be • $2,000 cash—provided by Wendy Watriss and Fred Baldwin, on view at the Klompching Gallery in the Fresh Annual Summer and Klompching Gallery. Exhibition, September 9–October 10, 2020. • Photolucida Portfolio Review Place—provided by Photolucida. Thank you to Debra and Darren of the Klompching Gallery, • £1,000 print production voucher—provided by Genesis for creating Fresh 2020 and for establishing and chairing the Imaging, London, UK. Rhonda Wilson Award. My heartfelt gratitude to the award • 5 hours one-on-one consultancy—provided by Debra Klomp judges Natasha Egan, Lisa Volpe, Paul Kopeikin and Andy Ching. Adams, for the appreciation and recognition that this award conveys. I’m truly honored to be chosen from such a diverse and passionate field of artists.—Jerry Takigawa The Rhonda Wilson Award was created to recognize and celebrate the legacy of Rhonda Wilson MBE (1953–2014), an advocate and champion of emerging photographers. She was best known for being the creative force behind the Rhubarb- Rhubarb Portfolio Review Festival, Birmingham, UK. In 2005, she was awarded an MBE, in recognition of her valuable contribution to photography and international trade. The award celebrates new talent in photography, providing the recipient with support, exposure and opportunity to further their career as a fine art photographer. The awardee was chosen from a shortlist of five photographers, selected for exhibition in the Fresh Annual Summer Exhibition at the Klompching Gallery— juried by Darren Ching and Debra Klomp Ching. The selection panel for the Rhonda Wilson Award included: Andy Adams, Independent Curator + Writer, Madison, WI; Paul Kopeikin, Owner, Kopeikin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Natasha Egan, Executive Director, MoCP, Columbia College, Chicago, IL; Lisa Volpe, Associate Curator Photography, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Darren Ching, Owner/Director, TAKIGAWA © JERRY PHOTO Klompching Gallery, New York, NY; Debra Klomp Ching, Owner/ Director, Klompching Gallery, New York, NY, CHAIR OF PANEL. Balancing Cultures highlights the structural racism deeply woven into the fabric of our society. A recent discovery of family photographs compelled me to express the shame and loss suffered by my family in the WWII American concentration camps. These images add humanity to the historical record— facts need testimony to be remembered. I give voice to the KLOMPCHING GALLERY feelings my family suppressed to remind us that hysteria, racism, 89 WATER STREET and economic exploitation are still a force in our country today. BROOKLYN, NY 11201 The camps, designed to assuage American feelings, engendered TEL +1 212 796 2070 EMAIL [email protected] a shadow legacy for an entire Japanese American community. WWW KLOMPCHING.COM Silence sanctions—documentation is resistance. —Jerry Takigawa MEDIA RELEASE Unlike many other artists utilizing vernacular photography, University, performing a key role in transforming the photography Jerry Takigawa’s work unearths family history and curriculum, with the introduction of survival strategies and simultaneously uncovers social histories too often forgotten. professional practice. She was well known as a popular Every carefully considered element in the images speaks to the and inspirational teacher. In 1993, Rhonda Wilson authored workings of memory, history, and family in a manner that is both Seeing The Light: The Photographers’ Guide to Enterprise—a distinctly personal and all too common. —Lisa Volpe, Associate groundbreaking publication at the time, and spurred the Curator, MFAH, Houston founding of the training and development agency, Seeing the Light. One of its most notable achievements was the Rhubarb- EDITOR’S NOTES Rhubarb International Festival of the Image—an annual, three-day portfolio review that brought hundreds of photographers and KLOMPCHING GALLERY was established in Dumbo, Brooklyn industry specialists from around the world to Birmingham, UK. in September 2007. Owned and operated by Debra Klomp In the New Year’s Honors List of 2005, Rhonda was awarded an Ching and Darren Ching, the gallery quickly established itself MBE for her contribution to photography and international trade. as a gallery with an extraordinary roster of artists from which to purchase some of the best examples of contemporary RHONDA WILSON AWARD PARTNERS photography—with exhibition reviews in publications such as The New Yorker, Art Review, Modern Painters, New York magazine WENDY WATRISS AND FRED BALDWIN are the Co-Founders and the Wall Street Journal, as well as numerous notable cultural of FotoFest, the first international Biennial of Photography websites. Since its inception, the gallery has earned a solid and Photo-related Art in the United States. FotoFest® is an reputation for providing informed guidance on the acquisition of international non-profit photographic arts and education contemporary fine art photography. organization based in Houston, Texas. FotoFest’s purpose is to promote the exchange of art and ideas through international JERRY TAKIGAWA is an independent photographer, designer, programs and the presentation of photographic art. Its programs and writer. He received the Imogen Cunningham Award, the work globally and locally, bringing together an international Clarence J. Laughlin Award, and CENTER’s Curator’s Choice vision of art and cross-cultural exchange with a commitment to Award. His work is in the permanent collections of the San community involvement and the enrichment of Houston’s cultural Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the resources. Crocker Art Museum, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Library of Congress, and the Monterey Museum of Art. He PHOTOLUCIDA is an arts nonprofit based in Portland, Oregon. studied photography with Don Worth at San Francisco State Its mission is to provide platforms that expand, inspire, University and received a degree in art with an emphasis in educate and connect the regional, national and international painting. Takigawa lives and works in Carmel Valley, California. photography community. Every other April, an international set of photographers and reviewers gather in Portland, for a five-day RHONDA WILSON MBE (1953–2014) was a champion of celebration of photography that includes lectures, workshops, photography, best known for being the creative force behind and exhibition collaborations. Intensive portfolio reviews are at the Rhubarb-Rhubarb International Festival of the Image. The the heart of the festival. various facets of her career-life included being on the editorial board and director of the celebrated Ten.8 magazine. For twelve GENESIS IMAGING is a full-service print, presentation and years, she was a part-time lecturer at the Nottingham Trent framing lab serving the photographic community. Clients include Getty Images, MoMA, PhotoLondon, TateBritain, Martin Parr and White Cube among others. KLOMPCHING GALLERY Media and image requests, please contact Darren Ching at 89 WATER STREET BROOKLYN, NY 11201 [email protected] or +1 212 796 2070. TEL +1 212 796 2070 EMAIL [email protected] WWW KLOMPCHING.COM.