Wendy Ewald is KSMoCA’s 2022–2023 artist in residence. For over 40 years, she has worked on photography projects around the world with children, families, women, and teachers. At Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School she collaborated on three projects with students, teachers, and Portland State University students: Reading Pictures, Retratos y Sueños (Portraits and Dreams), and a project inspired by her work with Maya, Ladino, and Tzotzil children living in Chiapas, Mexico. Reading Pictures explores Teaching and Learning through Photography and is based on Wendy’s collaboration with partners in Tanzania from the past ten years to create photographic teaching materials for school curriculums. She currently works with the University of Dodoma to develop posters that are used in classrooms to connect learning through pictures. Dr. MLK Jr. School teachers and students collaborated with PSU students to make their own versions. Retratos y Sueños (Portraits and Dreams) is based on a 1991 project Wendy did in Chiapas, Mexico, guiding her students in taking their own pictures of their daily lives, dreams, desires, and fantasies. At KSMoCA, college students mentored elementary school students to take photos of their dreams and lives at home and school. The Best Part of Me asks every student in the school “What is the best part of you?” and pairs their written answer with a photograph of their best part.

Wendy Ewald was born in Detroit, MI, in 1951. She has received many honors, including a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim fellowship, and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Andy Warhol Foundation, the Rauschenberg Foundation, and the Fulbright Commission. She has had solo exhibitions nationally and internationally and her work is documented in books and a recent film.