September 15–November 21, 2025
In 1843, British botanist Anna Atkins published Cyanotypes of British Algae, creating the first photographically illustrated book. Her pioneering work marked the beginning of women’s profound contributions to both photography and the photobook. Yet despite their innovation and influence, women artists have historically been undervalued, overlooked, or omitted from the canonical record.
How We See What They Saw shifts the focus to the margins, foregrounding the extraordinary creative achievements of women and nonbinary photographers over nearly two centuries. Designed as a hands-on reading room, this exhibition invites audiences to engage directly with over 80 photobooks and monographs, ranging from self-published and small press works to trade editions and exhibition catalogs. By bringing these works into dialogue, the exhibition demonstrates how women’s creative labor has shaped photographic practice, challenged conventions, and expanded the possibilities of the photobook form.
This exhibition builds on the scholarship of 10×10 Photobooks’ What They Saw: Historical Photobooks by Women, 1843–1999 and How We See: Photobooks by Women. Like those projects, it underscores how visibility and recognition serve as acts of redress, countering long-standing inequities that have marginalized women’s artistic labor.
10×10 Photobooks reading rooms have been presented around the world—including at the Getty Research Institute, the Reina Sofía Museum, the New York Public Library, and the Boston Athenaeum. How We See What They Saw extends this global conversation, creating a space for audiences to encounter, appreciate, and revalue the indispensable role of women in shaping the past, present, and future of the photobook. We are excited to have worked with 10×10 Photobook’s authors and curators Russet Lederman and Olga Yatskevitch to develop this exhibit in Fenwick Gallery and introduce new titles to the original project, including photobooks by artists and publishers from Northern Virginia and wider D.C. metro region.
A full slate of exhibition programming, including faculty and student spotlight talks, will be announced shortly.
