Online Curator's Talk: Portrait of a City

What does a city look like when you see it through the lives of the people who shape it?

In this engaging talk, exhibition curator Alexander Moore will guide you through the vision behind the exhibition, offering insight into the photographers, themes, and stories that bring a century of American urban experience to life. Discover how photography became a vital tool for documenting identity, community, and transformation across generations.

From early 20th-century industrial expansion to moments of protest and cultural change, this talk will illuminate the ways photographers captured the evolving soul of the modern city and the individuals at its heart.

About the Exhibition

Spanning 1907 to 2012, Portrait of a City: A Century of American Photography brings together works by 34 influential photographers to explore how urban life in America has been shaped, lived, and reimagined.

Set against the vibrant backdrops of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco, the exhibition reveals cities as ever-changing stages where personal stories intersect with national history. Through powerful portraits and evocative street scenes, photography becomes both witness and participant in moments of migration, labour, protest, and belonging.