Photography as an Agent for Change

Photographic Center Northwest (PCNW) is thrilled to announce our 2025 Agent for Change series.

This year we are offering a series of free workshops that explore photography as a tool for advancement in areas of social justice, racial equity, disability, environmental justice, visual literacy, storytelling, and cross-cultural communications. These programs are some of the many ways we invest in community and local arts education.

Registration is free. Space is limited for these workshops, so we ask that you double-check you’re able to attend the session dates prior to enrollment.

At PCNW we are committed to providing accessible, inclusive photographic education and that often means through free programs and events. If you appreciate the work we do, please consider supporting us by donating or volunteering.

The Social Tool of Wabi Sabi: A Cross-Cultural Practice through Mobile Photographs

led by Claire Cuccio
In person
July 10 – 24, 2025 | Thursday 6-8pm

This in-person workshop explores the Japanese concept of wabi sabi—”beauty in imperfection”—as a social tool to challenge “imperfections” and prioritize repair in our relationships and communities. Students will take a visual journey through wabi sabi’s cultural origins in 16th century Japan, learn how wabi sabi expanded globally, and explore wabi sabi in the Pacific Northwest. Through the students’ photographs interpreting wabi sabi, the group will learn how their work encourages improved human relation. Students come away with a curated body of work that has defined social meaning and purpose. They leave with an understanding of wabi sabi’s reframing of social connections that can bring hope and new tolerance for diversity.

Make Way: Queer Identity, Community, and You

led by Steven Miller
In-person
July 19, 2025 | Saturday 1-3pm & July 26, 2025 | Saturday 1-4pm

This in-person workshop explores queer identity through photographic history, personal storytelling, and hands-on cyanotype printmaking. In the first session, Steven will present and engage with students through an in-depth lecture on queer photographers from the 1860s to the 1990s. The presentation addresses the historical erasure of LGBTQIA+ artists and emphasizes photography as a tool for resistance and visibility. Drawing from his own experience as a queer photographer, Miller leads a discussion on how personal narratives can be translated into photographic work, specifically using cyanotypes as a means of expression and preservation.

In the second session, students share a brief portfolio before learning the fundamentals of cyanotype printing, from coating and exposing paper to developing two of their own archival prints from digital negatives. The group will reflect on the meaning behind their images and their connection to queer identity. The workshop concludes with a take-home resource list, empowering participants to continue exploring cyanotype printing as both a creative and political act. Participants will need to provide two digital image files to the teaching artist in advance of the second session to create digital negatives for use in creating their cyanotype prints.

LECTURE ONLY RSVP

Make Way: Queer Identity, Community, and You Lecture with Steven Miller
July 19, 2025 | 1-3pm
In Person at PCNW

We’re excited to be able to open up the Lecture with Steven Miller on July 19, 2025 to a broader audience than can be accommodated through the two-day workshop. Free with RSVP.

Memory and Healing: Photographic Archives of Marginalized Experiences

led by Zorn B Taylor
In-person
September 20 – October 4, 2025 | Saturday 1-4pm

This in person workshop explores photography’s dual role as both documentation tool and catalyst for community healing. Students will learn archival photography techniques, ethical approaches to documenting community stories, and methods for creating visual narratives that honor and amplify marginalized voices. The workshop emphasizes understanding historical context of visual archives, developing ethical documentation approaches, exploring healing through visibility, and building technical skills that serve community-driven documentation needs. Students can expect a combination of instructor-led presentations, case study visits to local institutional collections, and discussions centered on developing personal projects.

Yes, And: Portraits, Power and Poetry

This March, as part of our Photography as an Agent for Change 2025 series, Photographic Center Northwest partnered with the Frye Art Museum to host a workshop inspired by the Frye’s Boren Banner Series: Natalie Krick, entitled Yes, And: Portraits, Power, and Poetry

Students started their day with a guided tour led by exhibition curator Alexis L. Silva and artist Natalie Krick. The students then examined the imbalanced power structures that are embedded in much of historical portraiture and discovered how Krick subverts these dynamics in her work through photo manipulation and collage. In the afternoon, students joined Natalie Krick in the Frye Art Studio, to further explore the dynamics of photographer and subject. Through experimental collage, the students created photo collages that incorporate found objects and personal source materials.

A selection of the collages are on display at the PCNW Pushpin Gallery through spring quarter 2025.

Photographic Center Northwest would like to thank The Frye, and Natalie Krick for their partnership.