Bio
b. New York, 1951
Solo Exhibitions
2020
American Stories, Townsend Center for the Humanities, Berkeley, CA
2015
What’s Going On? Leica Gallery, San Francisco, CA
What’s Going On? Reva and David Logan Gallery, University of California, Berkeley, CA
2014
Valley of Shadows and Dreams, Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach, FL
Physical Labor, University of Texas at Dallas, TX
2013
Valley of Shadows and Dreams, Arte Americas, Fresno, CA
Valley of Shadows and Dreams, Visualize Photo Festival, Belgrade, Serbia
Pics Photo Festival, Vivacom Art Center, Sofia ,Bulgaria
Gallery Bu, Istanbul, Turkey
2012
Ken and Melanie Light: Valley of Shadows and Dreams, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
Valley of Shadows and Dreams, Umbrage, Brooklyn, NY
Ken Light, Ken Schles, and Ed Keating, Istanbul Photo Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
2010
The Byatt-Claeyssens Gallery, Sonoma Academy, Sonoma, CA
2008
Coal Hollow, Smith College Art Museum, Northampton, MA
Ken Light Retrospective, Viewpoint Gallery, Sacramento, CA
Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS
2006
Coal Hollow: Work by Ken Light, Oral Histories by Melanie Light, Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona, FL
Coal Hollow: Photographs by Ken Light, Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Coal Hollow, Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley, CA
The Great Central Valley, Rosenberg Foundation, San Francisco, CA
2005
Coal Hollow, International Center for Photography, New York, NY
International Fotoage, Mannheim/Ludwigshafen, Germany
2004
Coal Hollow, Visa pour l’Image, International Festival of Photojournalism, Perpignan, France
2002
Rüyanın Ötesindeki Amerika, Fotograf Vafi Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
Rüyanın Ötesindeki Amerika, Antik Sanat Galerisi, Diyarbakir, Turkey
Appalachia U.S.A., Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley, CA
1999
Texas Death Row, Peri Center of Photography, Turku, Finland
1998
50th Anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights: Texas Death Row, Amnesty International, Palermo, Italy
1997
Texas Death Row, Saba Gallery, New York, NY
1995
Delta Time, Academy of Art College, San Francisco, CA
Texas Death Row, Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley, CA
1990
Museum of Contemporary Art, Morelia, Mexico
University of Nevada-Reno, Department of Art, Reno, NV
El Centro Cultural, Del Consejo Nacional, Tijuana, Mexico
Arte Americas, Fresno, CA
57th Street Photography Center, Sacramento, CA
1989
Workspace Gallery, University of Colorado, CO
San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA
Satellite Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
East Meadow Public Library, East Meadow, NY
1988
The Photography at Oregon Gallery, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
1987
Stevenson Gallery, Southern Oregon State University, Ashland, OR
1986
International Center for Photography, New York, NY
The Photographer’s Gallery, Palo Alto, CA
Out of the Dark/Art of the Darkroom, DeAnza College, Cupretino, CA
1985
Zoller Gallery, Penn State University
1984
Infinity Gallery, Governors State University, IL
1980
Walter Reuther Library, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
Grossmont College Gallery, El Cajon, CA
1978
Images of Work, San Jose Museum of Modern Art, San Jose, CA
College of Marin, Kentfield, CA
Gallery 1199 Bread and Roses, New York, NY
Images of Work, Intersection Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1975
F-Stop Gallery, Palo Alto, CA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2021
Immigration U.S. Mexican Border, Kimmel Windows Gallery, New York University, New York, NY
2019
The Roaming Eye: International Street Photogrpahy from the Ramer Collection, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
Call and Response, When We say … You Say, University Art Museum, California State University Long Beach, CA
Fundraising Exhibition, Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA
2018
James Baldwin’s America, Carpenter Center for Visual Art, Harvard University, Boston, CA
Documentary Photography Now, Mills Pond Gallery, Smithtown, NY
Religion and Resistance, Doug Adams Gallery, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA
Camera Obscura Gallery, City College, San Francisco, CA
2017
Dorothea Lange: Politics of Seeing, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
Resistors: 50 Years of Social Movement Photography, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
2016
Winning the White House: From Press Prints to Selfies, International Center of Photography, New York, NY
Make Software: Change the World, Computer History Museum, San Jose, CA
Water Matters, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Labor Notes Convention Exhibit, Chicago, IL
Photography at Oregon 50th Anniversary, Maude Kerns Art Center, Eugene, OR
2015
Selections, Rosenberg Library, City College of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Altered Images, Bronx Documentary Center, Bronx, NY
2014
The Valley/El Valle: Photo Essays from California’s Heartland, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Envisioning Human Rights, University of California, Berkeley, CA
Camerawork Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Voice from Death Row, Volkshochschule Schleswig, Schleswig, Germany
Voice from Death Row, Schlewsig Community College, Schlewsig, Germany
2013
The Colors of California Agriculture, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, CA
Voice from Death Row, VHS Education Center, Heidelberg, Germany
Voice from Death Row, Castle, Osnabruck, Germany
Voice from Death Row, Volkshochschule Community College, Rosenheim,
Germany
Voice from Death Row, Annahof Protestan Forum, Auuhsburg, Germany
Voice from Death Row, Amnesty Group, Kommunales Kino, Freiburg, Germany
2012
Picturing Modernity, SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA
Sustenance, Northlight Gallery, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ
Die Geburtsstunde der Fotografie, Gernsheim Collection, Reis-Engelhorn Museum, Mannheim, Germany
Voice from Death Row, Amerikahaus, Munich, Germany\
2011
World Documents: 8 Contemporary Documentary Photographers, Mt. Holyoke College Art Museum, South Hadley, MA
2010
The View from Here, SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA
The Art of Labor, University of Missouri, St. Louis, MO
Pieces of Nine: Reframing the Collection, University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach, CA
Appalachia! The Daisy Barn Arts Center, Athens, OH
2009
An Autobiography of the San Francisco Bay Area, Part 1: San Francisco Plays Itself, SF Camerawork, San Francisco, CA
2008
Teachers Eye, San Francisco Exposure Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2007
Resonance and Return: Social Documentary Photography 1935-Present, Salt Lake Art Center, Salt Lake City, UT
Photos from the Judith Glickman Collection, Portland Museum of Art, Porland, OR
2006
The Whole World is Watching, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
2005
Only Skin Deep, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA
Whole World Is Watching, National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis, TN
2004
William Eggleston, SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA
Only Skin Deep, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA
Whole World is Watching, Community Memorial Museum, Yuba City, CA
Whole World is Watching, Turtle Bay Museums, Redding, CA
Whole World is Watching, Hayward Area Historical Society, Hayward, CA
2003
Only Skin Deep, International Center for Photography, New York, NY
International Photography, Reiss-Engelhorn Museum, Mannheim Germany
A Decade of Collecting, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
At Work: The Art of California Labor, California Historical Society, San Francisco, CA
Towards a Sustainable Earth: Issues, Challenges, and Leadership, Bancroft
Library Gallery, University of California, Berkeley, CA
Workers, Rosenberg Library, City College of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Our Youth Enduring: A Will to Survive, 50 Crows, San Francisco, CA
2002
Fast Forward: Recent Acquisitions, Berkeley Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, CA
Texas Death Row, Adell McMillan Art Gallery, University of Oregon, Eugene,
OR
California Culinary Culture, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, CA
Whole World is Watching, California History Center, De Anza College, Cupertino, CA
Whole World is Watching, San Joaquin County Historical Museum, Lodi, CA
2001
Photographic Odysseys, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
Capital Art, Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
19+1+1, University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach, CA
Whole World is Watching, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
Hearst International Exhibition Hall, San Francisco, CA
2000
Automobile Images and American Identities, California Museum of Photography, University of California, Riverside, CA
United States Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.
1999
I too am mortal, Turku Provincial Museum, Turku, Finland
1998
Years Ending in Nine, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Selective Evidence, Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
1997
The Cross in the Contemporary World, Sag Harbor Picture Gallery, Sag Harbor, NY
America Observed, 92nd Street Y, New York, NY
The Boundaries, San Francisco Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA
1996
Photographing Community, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
WATER, Photo Metro Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Distant Voices III, Puffin Gallery, New York, NY
1995
Selective Evidence, California State University Art Museum, Long Beach, CA
Mexico Through Foreign Eyes, Maison de l’Amerique Latin, Paris, France
Mexico Through Foreign Eyes, Carla Sozzani Editore, Milan, Italy
Delta Time, Vision Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1994
Mexico Through Foreign Eyes, Hammer Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Spirit of the Child, Scott Nichols Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1993
Italian Americans in the West, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
MTFE, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Monterrey, Mexico
Gordon Parks Fellowship Finalist Exhibit, Fort Scott Community College, KS
Faculty Exhibition, Academy of Art College, San Francisco, CA
1992
Mexico Through Foreign Eyes, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Internacional Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico
Traditions in the American Landscape, Scott Nichols Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1990
San Joaquin County Historical Society & Museum, Tifton, GA
Newberry College, Newberry, SC
New Documentary Photography, Images Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
Vision Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Tijuana Cultural Center, Tijuana, Mexico
Fine Arts Gallery, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
1989
Elon College Gallery, NC
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
James Center Atrium, Richmond, VA
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
1988
Burgen Gallery, Aperture Foundation, New York
Comment, Nexus Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Camerawork Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Photographic Resource Center Boston, MA
Atlanta Photography Group, Atlanta, GA
Holden Arts Center, Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa, NC
Gray Art Gallery, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC
1984
Faces Photographed, SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA
Artists Look at U.S. Politics, Southwestern College, Chula Vista, CA
1983
Chicago Center for Contemporary Photography, Columbia College, Chicago, IL
Art and Culture of the American Labor Movement, Staatliche Kunsthalle, West Berlin, Germany
Art and Culture of the American Labor Movement, Stadische Galerie Schloss, Oberhausen, Germany
Kultur Huset Museum, Stockholm, Sweden
Third Annual Travelling Labor Union Hall Show, San Francisco and Oakland, CA
1982
Focus Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Fantasy and Reality, Whitworthy College, Spokane, WA
1981
Southern Light Gallery, Amarillo, Texas
1980
The Humanist Vision, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
1978
The Work Show, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, CA
The Neary Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA
1975
West Coast Continuum, Walnut Creek Civic Arts Gallery, CA
Madame’s Organ Art Co-op Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Twelve Berkeley Photographers, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
Collections
Albin O Kuhn Library
American Museum of Art at the Smithsonian
Bancroft Library Pictorial Collection, University of California, Berkeley
Boca Raton Museum of Art
California Historical Society
California State University Art Museum
Center for Creative Photography
Center for the Study of Political Graphics
Comer Collection, University of Texas at Dallas Art Museum
Daytona Beach Community College
El Museo del Barrio
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
Haverford College Library
Harvard Art Museums
Helmut Gernsheim Collection
Honolulu Museum of Art
Houston Museum of Fine Arts
International Center of Photography
La Salle Bank Photographic Collection
Library of Congress
Maison Europeene de la Photographie
Mercantile Library, University of Missouri
Middle Tennessee State University
Mississippi Museum of Art
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
National Museum of American Art
New York Public Library
Oakland Museum of California
Polaroid Collection
Portland Museum of Art
Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, Tamiment Library
Saint Louis Art Museum
Santa Barbara Museum of Art
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Smithsonian Institution (Anacostia Museum, Center for African American History and Culture)
Labor Archive, San Francisco State University
Texas Historical Society
University of California, Berkeley Art Museum
Selected Grants and Awards
Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship
Johnathan Logan Family Foundation (Publication: Course of the Empire)
Johnathan Logan Family Foundation (Publication: Midnight La Frontera)
Johnathan Logan Family Foundation (Documentary film production: Midnight La Frontera)
Johnathan Logan Family Foundation (Midnight La Frontera)
Judges Special Recognition for What’s Going On?, Pictures of the Year International
Photobook Award, Photo Independent
Gold Medal winner, Notable Contribution to Publishing for Valley of Shadows and Dreams, 82nd Annual California Book Awards
Outstanding Academic Title, Choice Magazine, Association of College and Research Libraries of America
Winner, The Deadline Club
Valley of Shadows and Dreams: Newsweek Finalist, National Magazine Awards, Digital Ellie, EnPY Best Web Special Feature
Documentary Photography Project Distribution Grant, Open Society Institute
The Rosenberg Foundation
Max and Anna Levinson Foundation
Puffin Foundation Grant, Invisible America
National Press Photographers Foundation Research Fund
Max and Anna Levinson Foundation
Erna Och Victor Hasselblad Foundation, Sweden
Cannon Photo Essayist Award
Judges Special Recognition
49th Picture of the Year, University of Missouri
Meritorious Achievement in Photography, Media Alliance/MAMA Award
Thomas M. Storke International Journalism Award
Dorothea Lange Fellowship
National Endowment for the Arts, Photographers’ Fellowship
The Rosenberg Foundation
Max and Anna Levinson Foundation
The Film Fund
National Endowment for the Arts, Photographers’ Fellowship
National Endowment for the Arts, Survey Grant
American Film Institute, Independent Filmmaker Grant
The Film Fund
Artist in Communities Grant, California Arts Commission
Purchase Grant, International Fund for Concerned Photography
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2021
Midnight La Frontera. Photobook Publishers
Course of the Empire. Steidl
2020
Picturing Resistance: Moments and Movements of Social Change from the 1950s to Today. Ten Speed / Random House
2015
What’s Going On? 1969-1974. Light² Media
2012
Valley of Shadows and Dreams. Heyday Press
2006
Coal Hollow. University of California Press
2000
Witness in our Time. Smithsonian Books (2010: 2nd Edition)
1997
Texas Death Row. University Press of Mississippi
1995
Delta Time: Mississippi Photographs. Smithsonian Institution Press
1988
To The Promised Land. Aperture
1986
With These Hands. Pilgram Press
1982
In The Fields. Harvest Press