Jurors
2025 Critical Mass Prescreening Panel:
Daniel George, Submissions Editor, Lenscratch
Daniel George is an artist, educator, and photo editor based in Utah. In his personal creative practice, he explores the ways in which cultural forces effect the identity of place, community, and individuals. Since 2018, Daniel has served as the Submissions and Content Editor for Lenscratch, an online platform dedicated to supporting and celebrating the photographic arts and photographic artists through exposure, discussion, community collaboration, and education.
David Clifton-Strawn, Executive Director, Atlanta Photography Group
David Clifton-Strawn focuses his practice on exploring the traditional art of portraiture through a contemporary queer lens. Clifton-Strawn’s work has been exhibited across the United States, Canada, and Europe. His work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia and several private collections. He was the recipient of the 2022-23 City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs Emerging Artist Award in photography.
He currently serves as the executive director of the Atlanta Photography Group.
Danny Sanchez, Associate Director, Themes+Projects Gallery – San Francisco, CA
Danny is the associate director at Themes+Projects gallery (formally Modernbook). Since 2006, he has helped to cultivate the fine art careers of the gallery’s emerging talent in topics such as editing and sequencing, strategic analysis of a body of work for the current marketplace, pricing and editioning, etc. Outside the gallery, he had the pleasure of being a reviewer for Review Santa Fe, Medium Photo, and PhotoAlliance; he was invited to guest curate for the San Francisco Art Dealer’s Association and participated as a panelist for the San Francisco Artist Network. Sanchez is a Bay Area native and earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from San Jose State University.
themes+projects.com | @themesandprojects
Draženka Jalšić, Senior Curator, Koprivnica Museum — Croatia
Draženka is a Senior Curator at Koprivnica Museum, where she curates the museum’s art collections. She emphasizes graphic design, photography, and printing processes. She writes articles, critics, essays, and reviews on photography, the anthropology of photography, and visual communication. She writes on photography in professional and specialized magazines, portals, and online editions. Exhibition and portfolio reviews, essays, and selections on photography were in specialized websites and magazines in Europe and America. She is a member of the jury and photo curator in the Culture in Focus Annual Competition, the biennial of fine art photography Vizura, and the biennial of applied and commercial photography ProART.
www.muzej-koprivnica.hr | @djalsic
Elizabeth Avedon, Independent Curator + Photo Consultant — New York
Elizabeth is an independent curator and photo consultant, often contributing to L’Oeil de la Photographie. Former director of Photo-eye Gallery and Creative Director for the Gere Foundation, Elizabeth has received recognition for her curatorial work, exhibition design, and publishing projects, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Amon Carter Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and Art Institute of Chicago. She’s juried for the Leica Women Foto Project Awards, the Lucie Photo Book Awards and the Prix Carmignac Fondation Photojournalism Award in Paris. In 2017, Elizabeth received a “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Griffin Museum of Photography.
elizabethavedon.com | @elizabethavedon
Federico Estol, Artistic Director, San José Foto Festival – Uruguay
Federico is a Uruguayan photographer and artist. He works as a visual storyteller producing stories in Latin America; his long-term projects focus on the relationship between cultural identity, inequality, and social justice. In addition, he is the artistic director of the international festival SAN JOSÉ FOTO and editor of photobooks at El Ministerio Ediciones. He is represented by the East Wing Gallery.
Estol holds a bachelor’s degree in photography from UPC-Barcelona Tech University and a degree in popular education from MFAL Franciscan Multiversity. His awards include the Emergentes award at Encontros da Imagem festival (Portugal), IILA-FOTOGRAFIA award (Italy), Critical Mass Top 50 Finalist (USA), FELIFA best International photobook award (Argentina), Jury award at Lenzburg Photofestival (Switzerland), Latin American photobook award from Montevideo Center of Photography (Uruguay) and Expert Award of the Lishui Photography Museum (China).
sanjosefoto.uy | federicoestol.com
Gail Fletcher, Photo Editor, The Guardian – New York
Gail is a Photo Editor at The Guardian, where she develops and produces visual stories. She is on faculty at the International Center of Photography and was previously an Associate Photo Editor at National Geographic. She is originally from South Florida and holds a bachelor’s degree in history and government from Cornell University.
Karen Williams, Photo Director + Consultant
Karen Williams is a keynote speaker, course creator, and CEO and creator of Black Visual Queen, a company that is working to bring diversity to the photography industry. She has worked in the industry for over 15 years as a photo editor—not a photographer. She’s the decision-maker sitting in fancy rooms with top people debating which photographer to hire and why. She has had a hand in visual stories for dozens of iconic brands and is also a photography thought leader on LinkedIn, sharing her industry knowledge with her community there. In short, she knows what it takes for a photographer to get hired, and her mission is to help people get access to the information and resources they need to succeed in commercial photography. She lives in LA.
Katie Lydiatt, Gallery Programming Manager, SPAO Photographic Arts Centre
Katie Lydiatt (she/her) is a curator, researcher, and arts administrator in Ottawa, Canada. She holds an MA in Art History from Carleton University, as well as a Curatorial Studies Diploma from the Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art and Culture at Carleton.
She has held positions at SAW Gallery and the Carleton University Art Gallery, and worked as a freelance researcher and editor on a number of photographic publications. She is currently the Gallery Manager at the SPAO: Photographic Arts Centre.
Stephen Frailey, Founder & Editor, Dear Dave, Magazine
Stephen Frailey is the Founder and Editor of Dear Dave, magazine. He is the author of Looking at Photography, a collection of essays published by Damian Editore in 2020, and writes criticism regularly for Artforum, Frieze, Aperture, The Brooklyn Rail and Photograph magazine. He is a Chair Emeritus at SVA School of Visual Arts in New York, and was Chair of the BFA Photography and Video Department from 1998 to 2018, and founder of a graduate program in fashion photography. A book of his photographs will be published by Silent Face Projects in 2026.
Tiffany Jones, Founder, Overlapse Books
Tiffany Jones is the founder of Overlapse, a London-based photobook imprint established in 2015. With over 30 years of experience in arts publishing and photojournalism, she works as an editor, designer, researcher, and educator, collaborating with global programs and institutions. Tiffany partners closely with photographers and artists to craft unique, beautifully produced books that tell compelling stories. Her projects often explore social, cultural, and environmental issues, reflecting universal themes of human experience. Notable publications include You can call me Nana by Will Harris (finalist, 2021 Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation First Photobook Prize); A Parallel Road by Amani Willett (named one of the top 10 photobooks of 2021 by David Campany for ICP); and Beyond Drifting: Imperfectly Known Animals by Mandy Barker (nominated for the 2018 Deutsche Börse Foundation Prize).
Valerie Kersz, Photography Advisor + Curator
With over 12 years of experience as a photographers’ agent in Los Angeles and New York, Valerie Kersz built a strong reputation representing talent across the fashion, advertising, editorial, and film industries, collaborating with renowned artists such as Matthew Rolston, Herb Ritts, and Michael Thompson.
In recent years, she has expanded her focus to curating exhibitions in Paris, working closely with photographers from across the United States. Notable projects include Andy Sweet: Miami Beach 70’s at Atelier/Galerie Taylor (2022), capturing the vibrant Jewish community of South Beach, and BBS DRIVEBYS by Brian Bowen Smith at Polka Factory Gallery (2023), a powerful black-and-white series documenting American life during the pandemic. In 2024, she contributed to American Families at Polka Gallery, presenting Peggy Nolan’s intimate portraits of domestic life.
That same year, Valerie served as a juror for the Pierrevert festival Les Nuits Photographiques, an event celebrating visual storytelling under the stars in Provence. In 2025, she was appointed Head of Partnerships and Jury Member for the Objectif Femmes Award — France’s first festival dedicated to women photographers — with the winners’ exhibition set to be featured at Paris Photo in November 2025.
Ysabel Pinyol Blasi, Executive Director and Chief Curator, Monira Foundation
Ysabel Pinyol Blasi is the Executive Director and Curator at Monira Foundation and formerly served as Curatorial Director at Mana Contemporary (Miami, Jersey City, and Chicago), where she co-founded Mana Residencies. Originally from Barcelona, she earned her M.Arch from ETSAB in 2006. Pinyol began collecting art over two decades ago, opening and directing her own gallery in Barcelona from 2007 to 2011.
Since joining Mana Contemporary in 2011, she has curated major exhibitions including Pablo Picasso: La Tauromaquia (2014) and The T’ang Horse: The Passions of Anthony Quinn (2016). Through Monira Residencies, she has supported artists like LaToya Ruby Frazier, Azikiwe Mohamed, and Machine Dazzle. Pinyol also curates internationally, with recent projects including Jonas Mekas: Open Archives (2023) and Youth at Mount Etna, Sicily (2023). In 2017, she contributed an essay to The Brooklyn Rail and frequently participates in panels and portfolio reviews for institutions such as RISD, Pratt, NJIT, NYFA, and Smack Mellon.
*Photolucida’s Program Director, Polly Gaillard, will also be on the prescreening team.
2025 Critical Mass Jurors – More Coming Soon!
Alessandra Capodacqua, Creative Consultant + Lecturer + Mentor + Curator
Alexa Becker, Photography Coach + Publishing Consultant
Alexa Dilworth, Independent Editor + Writer (former Publishing Director and Senior Editor, Duke Center for Documentary Studies)
Alexandra Cirelli, Curatorial Assistant, Modern & Contemporary Art, Harvard Art Museums
Alisa Swindell Associate Curator, The Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College
Alison Nordström, Independent Scholar + Curator of Photographs
Amanda Smith, A Smith Gallery, Gallery Director
Anette Skuggedal, Founder, Lumina Gallery
Angela Bryant, Director, Rose Gallery
Ângela Ferreira, Artistic Director, PhotoFestival Encontros, Portugal
Ann Jastrab, Executive Director, Center for Photographic Art
Anne Massoni, Executive Director, Houston Center for Photography
Caleb Cain Marcus, Design Director, Luminosity Lab, New York
Chloe Coleman, Foreign Photo Editor, The Washington Post
Claire Sykes, Partner + Curator, Circuit Gallery, Toronto
Coco Conroy
Conor Moynihan, Assistant Curator, RISD Museum
*Daniel George, Submissions Editor, Lenscratch
Danny Sanchez, Associate Director, Themes+Projects Gallery
*David Clifton-Strawn, Executive Director, Atlanta Photography Group
Denise Froehlich, Director + Curator, Maine Museum of Photographic Art
Dina Mitrani, Founding Director, Dina Mitrani Gallery – Miami
Donna Cosentino, Director, The Photographer’s Eye
Donna Garcia , Director, Education & Programs, Griffin Museum
*Drazenka Jalsic, Senior Curator, Koprivnica Museum – Croatia
Dustin Drankoski, Independent Creative Director
Eirini Alexandrou, Independent Curator, Amsterdam
Elin Spring, Founding Editor, What Will You Remember
*Elizabeth Avedon, Independent Curator + Photo Consultant
Elizabeth Greenberg, Arnold & Augusta Newman Provost, Maine Media
Erin Hoyt Harris, Executive Director, Filter Photo
Eszti Bakos, Gallery Manager, Elliott Gallery
Frances Jakubek, Independent Consultant
Frank Meo, Director, Projections
*Gail Fletcher, Photo Editor, The Guardian
George Nobechi, Creative Director, Karuizawa Foto Fest
Gerald Slota, Artist + Educator
Guo Jing, Chief Art Director, Shangtuf Image and Art
Harris Fogel, Curator + Artist + Writer + The Photo Review
Heidi Erdmann Rasch, Independent Curator + Art Historian + Founder of the Photographers Gallery ZA in Cape Town, South Africa
- Sybylla Smith, Independent Curator, Educator + Consultant
Jackson Siegal, Associate Director, ClampArt
Jeff Moorfoot, Editor and publisher of BETA developments in photography
Jen Schmitz, Artist Representative, RedEye Represents
Jennifer DeCarlo, Director, jdc Fine Art
Jennifer Murray, Curator + Museum Manager, 21c Museum Hotel, Chicago
Karen Williams, Photo Director + Consultant
Kari Wehrs, Photography Program Chair, Maine Media
Katie Lydiatt, Gallery Programming Manager, SPAO Photographic Arts Centre
Lindsay O’Connor Executive Director, Atlanta Center for Photography
Louie Palu, Photographer + Founder,, Archive 192
Madeline Yale Preston, Photography Specialist + Arts Advisor
Marieke van der Krabben, Executive Director, Saint Petersburg Month of Photography (SPMOP) + Lumen Photo Fest
Mark Sink, Founding Director, Month of Photography, Denver
Mary Anne Redding, Curator, Turchin Center for Visual Arts
Mary Bisbee-Beek, Owner + Director, READ/SEE!
Mary Stanley, Independent Curator
Matthew Chase-Daniel, Co-Director & Co-Curator, Axle Contemporary
Maura Allen
Meghan Jordan, Curator, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Melanie Prapopoulos, Founder, The Contemporary Art Modern Project Gallery, Miami
Michael Itkoff, Co-founder, Daylight Books
Michael Kirchoff, Editor, Analog Forever Magazine
Michael Pannier, Executive Director, The Southeast Center for Photography
ML Miller, Executive Director, Photo Society SC
Molly Roberts, Independent Visuals Editor + Curator
Nancy Farese, Founder, Catchlight
Paris Chong, Manager + Curator, Leica Gallery
Paul Kopeikin, Founder, Kopeikin Gallery
Paula Tognarelli, Independent Curator + Collector
Peter M. Krask, Creative Director + Photolucida Board
Phillip Prodger, Executive Director, Curatorial Exhibitions at Curatorial, Inc.
*Polly Gaillard, Program Director, Photolucida
Rachael Nusbaum, Photo Editor + Photolucida Board
Robin O’Dell, Executive Curator, Florida Museum of Photographic Art
Rodrigo Orrantia Gomez, Photography Historian + Curator
Rotem Rozental, Executive Director, Los Angeles Center for Photography
Samantha Johnston, Executive Director + Curator, Colorado Photographic Arts Center
Sandee McGee, Assistant Manager, Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center
Sarah Kobos, Senior Photo Research Coordinator, The Tonight Show
Sarah Leen, Founder + Editor, Visual Thinking Collective
Shana Lopes, PhD, Assistant Curator of Photography, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Sherri Littlefield, Independent Curator + Director, Treat Gallery
Stephanie Heimann, Photo Director, The New Republic
*Stephen Frailey, Founder & Editor, Dear Dave, Magazine
Stephen Perloff, Founder + Editor, The Photo Review
Steven Benson, Photographer + Educator + Independent Curator
Stu Levy, Portland Art Museum Photo Council, Photolucida Board
Susan Burnstine, Columnist + Contributor, Black and White Photography Magazine, UK
Susie Morrill, Chairperson, Photography at Oregon Gallery Committee
Tiffany Jones, Founder, Overlapse Books
Tina Schelhorn, Independent Curator
Tomasz Trzebiatowski, Editor + Founder, Frames Magazine
Tracey Woods, Director of Photography + Creative Consultant + Producer, The Luupe
Ute Noll, Owner + Curator + Editor, Uno Art Space + Ute Noll Visual Projects
*Valerie Kersz, Photography Advisor + Curator
Veronica Nicolardi, Director, Cortona On The Move + Co-Director, Yeast Photo Festival + Co-founder, OTM Gallery
Whitney Wernick, Programs Manager, Center Santa Fe
Willie Osterman, Artist + Educator
Ysabel Pinyol Blasi, Executive Director and Chief Curator, Monira Foundation
Yuko Yamaji, Curator, Kiyosato Museum of Photography
Zach Hoffman, Owner + Director, PhotoPlace Gallery
Zan Zeller, Assistant Director, Koslov Larsen Gallery
Zsolt Batori, Director, PH21 Gallery – Budapest
*Pre-screening jurors
