The Human Aperture: Interrogating the Image at LENS 2026

There is a wearying predictability to the contemporary "photo survey"—a tendency to fall back on the comfortable clichés of the decisive moment as if we were still navigating the world with a Leica and a prayer. However, Perspective Gallery’s LENS 2026 manages to sidestep the decorative trap. This sixteenth iteration of their international juried exhibition feels less like a collection of captures and more like a series of rigorous aesthetic arguments.

The most striking element of this year’s exhibition was its explicit, almost militant exclusion of AI-generated imagery. In an era where the "synthetic" is rapidly colonizing our visual field, juror Ann M. Jastrab—the Executive Director of the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel—has curated a selection that reinforces the necessity of the human witness. Out of over 1,430 submissions from 299 photographers, Jastrab distilled the show down to just 28 works. The result is a collection that remains tethered to the physical world, even when the final print has been pushed into the realm of the abstract.

Riel Sturchio, Wingspan

Catherine Panebianco “Golden Retrievals”

The top honors this year reflect a deep interest in the psychological and the visceral. riel Sturchio, a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Iowa, took the Juror's Award for Wingspan. Sturchio’s work often explores the intersection of LGBTQ+ identity and disability, and here, it demands a slow, almost medicinal gaze. Following closely are Catherine Panebianco from Jamestown, New York, whose Golden Retrievals secured the first runner-up spot, and Darby Williams, an Indiana University artist whose Untitled (Reaching) rounded out the top three.

Running in tandem with the main event is Through A New Lens, curated by Gina Costa. It is an exploration of mobile technology that avoids the shallow traps of "app-culture." Costa, an art historian with roots at the Art Institute of Chicago, argues that the smartphone is the logical successor to the 1900s photo booth and the 1950s Polaroid—tools of immediacy that have always shifted the boundaries of what we consider a "photograph."

Darby Williams “Hands Sky"

One can feel Jastrab’s influence in the technical discipline on display. Whether the works are traditional silver gelatin or digital experiments, they all share a structural integrity that demands more than a casual glance. It is a rare show that feels technologically current without sacrificing its soul to the latest software update.

If the visual noise of the digital age begins to overwhelm you, I suggest standing before Sturchio’s Wingspan until the unnecessary chatter of the gallery fades away. It is a masterclass in the power of the singular, human-held frame, proving that stillness is often the loudest thing in the room.