Louis Chavez is a photographer and curator based in New York. Their solo exhibition, New Intimacies, was exhibited at the University of Rochester’s Hartnett Gallery in 2021 and at PeepSpace in Tarrytown, NY in 2023. Chavez was a participant in SOILED: The Downtown Dirty Book Fair, curated by Matthew Leifheit in 2022, and was a graduate presenter at the Society for Photographic Education’s national conference in 2023. In addition to their visual arts practice, Chavez is a curatorial assistant in photography at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, NY. They were a guest curator at Visual Studies Workshop in 2020 and a studio assistant to photographer Joshua Rashaad McFadden in 2021. Chavez holds an M.F.A. in Photography and Related Media from the Rochester Institute of Technology and a B.S. (summa cum laude) from SUNY Brockport.
studio@chavezlouis.com
EDUCATION
2023
M.F.A. Photography, Rochester Institute of Technology
2021
B.S. Studio Art and Museum Studies minor, SUNY Brockport
2020
Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY
EXHIBITIONS
2023
Space on Paper: Jimei x Arles Photography Book Exhibition, Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Xiamen, China
Homecoming: MFA Photography Reviews, RIT City Art Space, Rochester, NY
(Solo) New Intimacies, PeepSpace, Tarrytown, NY
Preceding the Future, MFA Thesis Exhibition, William Harris Gallery, Rochester, NY
Homecoming, juried by Jess T. Dugan, Rotunda Gallery at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design
2022
Switch, Pine Apple Company, Buffalo, NY
Soiled: The Downtown Dirty Book Fair, curated by Matthew Leifheit, Le Petit Versailles, New York, NY
Free to Be, curated by Lissa Rivera and Orestes Gonzales, Culture Lab LIC at The Plaxall Gallery, New York, NY Draft 17, George Eastman Museum, Rochester, NY
2021
(Solo) New Intimacies, Hartnett Gallery, curated by Peter Murphy, University of Rochester
Resilience, Tower Fine Arts Gallery, SUNY Brockport
2020
Crafting Democracy: Fiber Arts and Activism, curated by Juilee Decker and Hinda Mandell, Davis Gallery, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Silience, Tower Fine Arts Gallery, SUNY Brockport
20emerging, Gallery Q at Out Alliance, Rochester, NY
My Queer Valentine, Target Gallery at Torpedo Factory Art Center, Alexandria, VA
2019
Postcards from the Edge: Visual AIDS Benefit Exhibition, Bortolami, New York, NY
Myths of the Sacred Wound [with Megan Joy May], Flower City Arts Center, Rochester, NY
2018
Collective Creativity, Rochester Public Library – Monroe Branch, Rochester, NY
2013
Set/Apart, Cock Gallery, Portland, OR
AWARDS & RESIDENCIES
2023
Jimei x Arles Dummy Book Award, Shortlisted
Project Space Residency, Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY
2022
Urbanautica Institute Awards, Shortlisted
RIT Graduate Merit Scholarship, Rochester Institute of Technology
Greg Barnett MFA / Robert Eighmie SPAS Scholarship, Rochester Institute of Technology
William A. Reedy Endowed Scholarship, Rochester Institute of Technology
Career Preparation Resource Fund, Rochester Institute of Technology
2021
Theodore Chapman Memorial Graduate Scholarship, Rochester Institute of Technology
Departmental Scholar Award, SUNY Brockport
Montgomery Schultz / Waite Award, SUNY Brockport
Kazin Memorial Award, SUNY Brockport
Photography Award, SUNY Brockport
2020
William P. Manitsas Memorial Award in Art, SUNY Brockport
Douglas A. Feldman LGBTQ Paper Award, Runner-up, SUNY Brockport
PUBLICATIONS
2023
Homecoming, Rotunda Gallery at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design (exhibition catalog)
2022
Free to Be, Culture Lab LIC at The Plaxall Gallery (exhibition catalog)
Draft Magazine, Issue 17
2020
Draft Magazine, Issue 16
My Queer Valentine, Target Gallery at Torpedo Factory Art Center (exhibition catalog)
2019
Half Frame Club, Volume 2
50: Pride, Soft Lightning Press
2018
Punx in Paradise, Contrafotografía Zine (online feature)
2017
One Year Later | Experiments in Process, Flower City Arts Center (online feature)