Light Work

04/17/2026

Apply now to our 2027 artist-in-residence program!

Light Work invites between twelve and fifteen artists to Syracuse to devote one month to creative projects every year. Over 400 artists have participated in Light Work’s Artist-in-Residence Program, and many of them have gone on to achieve international acclaim.

The residency includes a $7,500 stipend, a furnished artist apartment, 24-hour access to our state-of-the-art facilities, and generous staff support. Work by each Artist-in-Residence is published in a special edition of Contact Sheet: The Light Work Annual, along with an essay commissioned by Light Work. Work by former Artists-in-Residence is also part of the Light Work Collection.

The deadline for 2027 residency applications is July 1st. Link to apply: https://lightwork.slideroom.com/ #/login/program/86754

Image by 2023 resident, Marcus Xavier Chormicle

04/16/2026

CONGRATULATIONS! The Guggenheim Foundation () announced the 223 recipients of its 2026 fellowships. Those awarded include former Light Work residency participants and exhibiting artists Harlan Bozeman, riel Sturchio, Pixy Liao, Guanyu Xu, and Aspen Mays.

Also included Christopher Harris and Jacqueline Goss, former Urban Video Project artists.

We’re honored to have provided time, space, and resources for so many of these artists early in—and throughout—their careers. We congratulate all the 2026 Guggenheim recipients on joining this illustrious body of fellows and the legacy that it represents.

03/27/2026

02/09/2026

Our first Contact Sheet of 2026 is in!

There is a cultural legend in Poland about a “rich uncle from America” that everyone’s parents or grandparents used to have. This mythological uncle who emigrated from the US would send back care packages with clothes, food, and little treasures from America. Karolina’s work in “Made in Poland” flips the tale into her own fable and conjures up a rich aunt from Poland who mails Polish cultural treasures to her nephew in America.

Wojtas’s work derives from her surroundings and experiences—childhood, education, siblings, first love, and death. Her images originate from amateur pictures found on the internet; all taken in situations that are almost impossible to explain. She is an artist whose work combines photography, installation, and performance to create spaces full of surprise, childlike imagination, and spontaneity. For her, art is an endless game and experiment, where audiences become part of the experience.

Subscribe or buy single copies at lightwork.shop!

01/26/2026

Light Work is closed today, January 26th, due to inclement weather. Visit us online at lightwork.org!

Image: Lisa M. Robinson, “Solo”, 2005

10/25/2025

Light Work will open at 2 PM today, instead of our usual 11 AM! Visit us online 24/7 at lightwork.org.

Image: Sasha Phyars-Burgess from our current show, “Everything Nice”

10/09/2025

Light Work will have limited hours throughout the weekend for Syracuse University's fall break, and for the observation of Indigenous People's Day. We will resume normal hours of 10 AM - 9 PM on Tuesday, October 14th!

Visit us online 24/7 at lightwork.org.

Image: Sophie Rivera, "Dr. Lloyd Elm of Onondaga Tribe", 1987

10/08/2025

With enormous pleasure, Light Work announces the 2026 Light Work Artists-in-Residence (AIRs). A total of twelve artists working in photography and related media received residencies:

Kioto Aoki (Illinois), Anthea Behm (Florida), Ohan Breiding (New York), Widline Cadet (California), Dylan Everett (New York), Jamil Hellu (California), Megan Ledbetter (Tennessee), Dean Majd (New York), Asha Schechter (New York), Cédrine Scheidig (France), Arhant Shrestha (Nepal), and Dahveed Wilkins (New York).

Light Work has an exciting collaboration with the Darryl Chappell Foundation. They have supported artists in Light Work's residency program since 2022, and continues by providing support to Widline Cadet.

The annual applications are of such high quality that the slimmest of margins usually determine the judges’ final choices, and this year has been no exception. Light Work extends a full-hearted thank you to all who applied.

Visit https://www.lightwork.org/news/announcing-light-works-2026-artists-in-residence/ for more information!

09/19/2025

Thank you & for the review on our summer show, “The Archive As Liberation”, curated with ! See the full review through the link in our bio.

Our past exhibitions are always available online. Visit us anytime at lightwork.org!

08/25/2025

LAST WEEK TO SEE THE ARCHIVE AS LIBERATION! The show closes this Friday, August 29th.

The Archive as Liberation is a publication and exhibition organized by Aaron Turner (Light Work artist–in-residence, 2018, and Light Work exhibiting artist, 2021). Turner has gathered a unique group of artists and writers to engage in dialogue around archival photographic methods.

“The artists included in this publication and exhibition are engaged in resilience, ancestral understanding, counter-memory, translation, activism, tension, narrative, and critique. Through their artistic gestures, they illustrate freedom in the Archive.” —Aaron Turner

The exhibition also includes a unique reading room curated by Turner with artists’ books from his personal collection and pieces from Light Work’s collection. The reading room will be in Light Work’s Lab for the duration of the exhibition.

08/19/2025

Come see the work by our 50th Annual Light Work Grants recipients! The show closes on August 29th.

The 2025 recipients are Sarah Knobel (St. Lawrence), Joe Librandi-Cowan (Onondaga County), and Lida Suchy (Onondaga County). The two runners-up are Marna Bell (Onondaga County) and Adrian Francis (Onondaga County).

This year’s judge was Marina Chao (a curator at CPW in Kingston, NY), who writes: “From an unexpected approach to plastic waste to portraits of Ukrainian civic leaders to an exploration of home, family, and memory, this year’s grantees address subjects that are intimate and personal, urgent and political, in innovative, collaborative, and deeply felt ways.”