Founded in 1974, SF Camerawork’s mission is to encourage and support emerging artists to explore new directions and ideas in the photographic arts. Exhibitions, publications, and educational programs create an engaging platform for artistic exploration as well as community involvement and inquiry.
SF Camerawork was founded by a group of Bay Area artists as a cooperative venture to promote photography as a fine art form. The founding artists envisioned SF Camerawork as a space where photographers could showcase work not being shown at commercial galleries or in museums at that time. From the beginning, SF Camerawork welcomed experimental photography and sought to foster a range of alternative aesthetics and techniques. This included early support for the incorporation of conceptual, performance, and language-based practice within photography.
Today, SF Camerawork is a destination for emerging artists and collectors focusing on new ideas in the photographic arts and continues to serve as a critical platform for photography, engaging the Bay Area and beyond with innovative, experimental, and challenging new work.
Admission is free.