PAC LA: "Why A Photobook?" Panel Discussion

Photographic Arts Council Los Angeles (PAC LA), with the support of Eastman Museum Los Angeles, is pleased to present its second Year of the Woman event, Why A Photobook? on Saturday, May 17, 2025, at 1:00pm. Los Angeles Modern Auctions will host the dynamic panel discussion featuring photographers Mona Kuhn and Elena Dorfman, Getty Library photography curator Isotta Poggi and photography collector Marjorie Ornston.

The Getty Library is currently hosting a pop-up survey of a global history of photobooks by women photographers drawn from the library’s collection as part of an international series showcasing the 10×10 Photobooks' catalog What They Saw: Historical Photobooks by Women 1843–1999. This groundbreaking publication offers an inclusive revision and remapping of the photobook canon. Drawing from the exhibition, the panelists will discuss notable photobooks by Southern California women artists published after 2000.

Why A Photobook? will expand the discussion on this popular medium and explore many of the questions that photo artists face today:

• Why choose to publish vs. exhibit?
• What themes do I want to uncover, and why?
• Who and what has been an important influence to help me shape my viewpoint?
• How much of myself do I want to include in this book?

This interactive discussion will welcome audience feedback to further examine photobooks, and the role they play in the development of an artist’s career and legacy.

Mona Kuhn is an American artist, born in São Paulo, Brazil, of German descent. For over 25 years, Mona has used photography and lens-based media art to re-examine figurative discourse, rendering the physical and metaphysical presence in the human figure. Her photography has been exhibited worldwide, and she has over ten photobooks to her name.

Elena Dorfman is a fine art photographer and filmmaker based in Los Angeles, CA. Her extraordinary work centers around landscape and identity and is the subject of three monographs: Empire Falling (Damiani, 2013), Fandomania (Aperture, 2007), and Still Lovers (Channel, 2005).

Isotta Poggi has been at the Getty Research Institute over twenty years and has been involved with numerous exhibitions and publications. Her curatorial focus is the cultural history of photographic images as creative narrative tools in albums, photobooks and artists’ books.

Marjorie Ornston, a former Board Member of PAC, has been collecting photography since the 1980s with a focus on post-war American photography, portraiture, and contemporary living photographers. She has been a research intern at the Getty Research Institute for over ten years.

PAC LA’s Year of the Woman honors the powerful women who helped to shape the organization’s first decade. These flagship events are made possible with meaningful sponsorship from Eastman Museum Los Angeles.

Future Year of the Woman events will include a Women Gallerists panel, followed by a keynote lecture by a celebrated female photographer in the fall. The end of the year will find Women Photography Conservators, an online event with women working in the essential field of photo conservation. In the first quarter of 2026, some of the nation’s most influential curators will be in conversation during Women Curators.

Photographic Arts Council Los Angeles (PAC LA)

The mission of PAC LA is to educate and empower communities through an evolving public conversation about photography and photo-based arts, the primary visual language of our time. At its core, PAC LA is committed to creating learning opportunities through unique, collaborative programming that engages and unifies in a space without exclusion. Learn more here: https://paclosangeles.com.

Photographic Arts Council LA (PAC LA) is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture as part of the Organizational Grant Program and Creative Recovery LA, an initiative funded by the American Rescue Plan, as well as the California Arts Council, a state agency. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov.

Eastman Museum Los Angeles - Eastman Museum Los Angeles is a recently launched venture of the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York—with the mission of contributing to arts, culture, and education in Los Angeles. The George Eastman Museum is a cultural, educational, and historical institution established in 1947 and recognized worldwide for its collections that include photographic objects, films, technology objects, a vast library, and archival materials related to photography, cinema, and the life of George Eastman. Eastman LA plans to open a museum venue in Los Angeles and is continuing to search for an appropriate space. The venue will present exhibitions related to photography, moving images, and technology—making the George Eastman Museum collections accessible to a larger audience while creating a new space for contemporary photography and visual culture in Los Angeles.

Why A Photobook? will be held at Los Angeles Modern Auctions, located at 6666 Lexington Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90038. Capacity is limited, advance registration is highly recommended.

Top Image © Elena Dorfman