MoMA Presents: The 40th anniversary of its New Photography series

Musuem of Modern Art Curators of Photography Show 2025. From left to right: Caitlin Ryan, Roxana Marcoci, Lucy Gallum & Oluremi C. Onabanjo. Organized by Lucy Gallun, Curator; Roxana Marcoci, Acting Chief Curator and The David Dechman Senior Curator; Oluremi C. Onabanjo, The Peter Schub Curator; and Caitlin Ryan, Assistant Curator, Department of Photography. Photo by Ruben Natal-San Miguel

By RUBEN NATAL-SAN MIGUEL September 25, 2025

During these turbulent and challenging times, it is the perfect moment to look at art—and more specifically, at museums. MoMA is leading the way with this must-see, extraordinarily well-curated exhibition that reminds us we need to understand the world and other's perspectives before looking inward at ourselves.

One of the most refreshing aspects of this exhibition is that, although it addresses controversial global issues (particularly in American society), it does so without confrontation. The show is elegantly curated, with educational and humanitarian messaging at the forefront. It reassures us: It’s okay to be different. Let me show you why. We are all together in this journey called life.

For the 40th anniversary of its New Photography series, MoMA spotlights artists from four global cities—Johannesburg, Kathmandu, New Orleans, and Mexico City—long-standing centers of creativity that predate the nation-states now containing them. The most seamless message conveyed through the exhibition’s powerful imagery is that humanity and empathy trump everything.

Here are highlights from some of the artists. I truly want you to see this exhibition.
 

 Renee Royale – Fazendeville, from the series Landscapes of Matter, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and MoMA. 
 

Landscapes of Matter by Renee Royale is a multimedia, time-based exploration documenting the geologic and human violence shaping the land between New Orleans and Venice, Louisiana, where the Mississippi River flows into the Gulf of Mexico. Using instant film technology, Royale captures the temporality of environments and their ongoing transformations under the weight of slavery, settler colonialism, racial capitalism, and patriarchal violence. Landscapes of Matter both exposes and archives visual evidence of ecological and racialized violence.

 
Lake Verea- Carla Verea Fernandez & Francisca Rivera Lake
Marcarón Dorado ( Golden Mask ) 2019 . From the Uno a uno series
Courtesy of the artist and MoMA .

Taína Franco-Klein – Subject Studies, Chapter 1, 2022. Courtesy of the artist and MoMA.
 

This series is highly cinematic, reminiscent of Alex Prager’s work, and visually recalls the color palette of Emilia Pérez (even though the film was not made in Mexico). Franco-Klein succeeds in capturing and conveying the atmosphere of Mexico—the temperature, the mood, the feeling of being there. The works are stunning and transport the viewer directly into their world.

Sandra Blow, 2017. Courtesy of the artist & MoMA.

 Sandra Blow – Alan Balthazar, 2017. Courtesy of the artist & MoMA.
 

 Sandra Blow photography installation at MoMA. Photo by Ruben Natal-San Miguel.

 L. Kasimu Harris – “King” Joe Lindsey and His Royal Setup (Robertson’s Vieux Carré Lounge), New Orleans, from the series Vanishing Black Bars & Lounges, 2022. Courtesy of the artist & MoMA.

 L. Kasimu Harris – The Monday Faithfuls (Purple Rain Bar), New Orleans, from the series Vanishing Black Bars & Lounges, 2019. Courtesy of the artist & MoMA.
 

Black bars in New Orleans are the epicenter of Black culture—the driving force of the city’s identity. They are homes to social aid & pleasure clubs, Black Masking Indians, and the broader community. Historically, these bars provided respite from the outside world and its injustices. Records of Black gathering spaces in New Orleans date back to the late 1800s, with music, dancing, and drinking at their core. These spaces have always embodied practice, play, and performance, especially during carnival season.

They offered affordable drinks, music, food, and fellowship. In the Mississippi Delta, they’d be called juke joints; in South Africa, shebeens. No matter the name or location, their cultural significance is immense—yet too often overlooked. Today, however, many of these Black bars in Black neighborhoods are disappearing, increasingly replaced by white-owned spaces.

In my opinion, this was one of the exhibition’s most fascinating photo series. The images intrigued me so much that I went online to learn more. They capture nostalgia, color, and—most powerfully—the loss of community and culture.

 Prasiit Sthapit – Change of Course, 2012–2018/2025. Courtesy of the artist & MoMA.