Wide shot of the art gallery
Art Gallery

Current Exhibition

Retold: Altered Photography, Cut and Paste, and Open for Interpretation Exhibitions

On View June 11–July 30 during Summer hours
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 11, 6:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.

The Pace University Art Gallery presents three exhibitions exploring how photographic meaning is shaped by manipulation, from analog newsroom edits to contemporary digital practices. The interrelated shows—Retold: Altered Photography, Cut and Paste, and Open for Interpretation—open with a free public reception on Thursday, June 11 from 6:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.

Abstract art piece titled Ancestral Seeds by Nouf Alijowaysir
Abstract art piece titled Not the Whole Picture: Alice by Garth Amundson and Pierre Gour
Abstract art piece of a coffin filled with artificial flowers and studio light by Juyon Lee
A collage of photos with red thread by Negin Mahzoun
Monochromatic photo of a civic center overlayed with a white house shape by Wendel White

Nouf Aljowaysir, from Ancestral Seeds, 2025, Generative images trained on the Salaf (ancestors) dataset, digital prints on vinyl

Garth Amundson and Pierre Gour, Not the Whole Picture: Alice, 2020, Color prints and thread

Juyon Lee, Coffin filled with artificial flower (Korea Cancer Center Hospital) and light entering studio (I-Park, Connecticut), 2024, Photographic decal of hand-woven photos on slumped glass

Negin Mahzoun, Unyielding Thread Project, 2024, Photography and Textile, Linen Fabric, Red Thread, Red Ink, Silver Frames

Wendel A. White, School for White Children, Brooklyn, Illinois 1/15, 2007/2010, Pigment Inkjet on Paper

The project is inspired by historic newsroom prints from the George Stephanopoulos Collection at Pace that retain visible marks of manual editing, including pen lines, white‑out, and incisions. Created in the mid-20th century, these alterations reflect editorial judgment and the technical constraints of newspaper production, shaping interpretation while meeting the demands of reproduction and layout.

Photo collage of a person using a vacuum in different locations
On view in the Open for Interpretation Exhibition
Alexis Staten, Untitled, 2026, digital photography print on vinyl

For contemporary audiences accustomed to digital manipulation and fully fabricated images, these analog edits appear strikingly overt. Yet their transparency reveals a foundational truth: photographs have always been shaped, edited, and constructed. Removed from their original context, these images prompt renewed attention to what is revealed or omitted in producing visual meaning.

Curated by Sarah Cunningham, Art Gallery Director and Associate Clinical Professor, with Roger Sayre, Professor and Associate Chair of the Art Department, the exhibitions include:

Women in a self-defense course from the George Stephanopoulos Collection
On view in the Cut and Paste Exhibition
Unknown photographer, Untitled image of self-defense course, courtesy of George Stephanopoulos Collection at Pace University, ca. 1954, silver gelatin print. Rights status is not determined. If you believe you hold rights in this image, please contact Pace University.
  • Retold: Altered Photography (Pace University Art Gallery): an exhibition featuring work by six contemporary artists—Nouf Aljowaysir, Garth Amundson and Pierre Gour, Juyon Lee, Negin Mahzoun, and Wendel A. White—who use photographic alteration to reclaim and reframe personal narratives and social histories, challenging photography’s authority as a neutral record.
  • Cut and Paste (Student Exhibition Lab): a CMS 338: Media Criticism student-curated selection of historic newsroom photographs from the George Stephanopoulos Collection analyzing visible evidence of manual editing in print media.
  • Open for Interpretation (Student Exhibition Lab): a display of ART 356: Experimental Photography student digital works responding to these historical practices, exploring how images can be reinterpreted through construction and deconstruction.

By placing contemporary artworks in dialogue with historic newsroom photographs, the exhibitions highlight photographic alteration’s dual capacity: to assert authority and to question it. Across all three, acts of cutting, editing, layering, and erasure reveal that photographs are never neutral; they are constructed, contingent, and open to interpretation.