American Photographic Artists National
Wed 21st Oct, 2026 – 7:00pm
Wed 21st Oct, 2026 7:00pm
free event Book + Book Signing $125 20% discount to APA members
Join us for the NYC launch of Act One: A Century in the Making, with a book signing and panel featuring several contributing photographers.
A book. An exhibition. A public conversation.
Join us for the official New York City launch of Act One: A Century in the Making—an evening of photography and conversation with contributing photographers Albert Watson, Eugene Richards, Darcy Padilla, Martin Schoeller, Andrew Moore, Ken Light, Angela Strassheim, Dr. Joia Mukherjee, and Elisa Massimino.
Bringing together the work of more than 100 internationally recognized photographers alongside original essays by leading scholars, writers, and journalists, Act One is an ambitious 704-page publication creating a collective portrait of the first quarter of the 21st century.
Across nine thematic chapters, the book examines many of the forces that have defined these first twenty-five years—from climate change, public health, and human rights to democracy, race, war, technology, and globalization—through an extraordinary range of photographic perspectives.
Hosted at GO Studios Penthouse, the evening will feature a panel discussion exploring photography's role in documenting, interpreting, and shaping our understanding of a rapidly changing world. The participating photographers will discuss their work featured in Act One, the events and communities they have photographed, and the questions that arise when more than 100 individual perspectives are brought together to create a portrait of our shared time.
Albert Watson — One of the most influential photographers of the past five decades, Albert Watson is renowned for a distinctive body of work spanning portraiture, fashion, fine art, and commercial photography. His subjects have ranged from Alfred Hitchcock and Steve Jobs to Kate Moss, and he has photographed more than 100 Vogue covers worldwide. Watson was awarded an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to photography and is the recipient of the Royal Photographic Society’s Centenary Medal, a Grammy Award, the Lucie Award for Lifetime Achievement, and Hasselblad Masters honors. Photo District News named him one of the 20 most influential photographers of all time.
Eugene Richards — Acclaimed documentary photographer, writer, and filmmaker Eugene Richards has spent more than five decades producing deeply personal work on poverty, addiction, healthcare, war, family, and life in America. The author of sixteen books, Richards is a recipient of the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Award, Guggenheim Fellowship, Leica Oskar Barnack Award, Leica Medal of Excellence, multiple ICP Infinity Awards, and the Robert F. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Journalism Award, among numerous other honors. He has also been named Magazine Photographer of the Year by Pictures of the Year International and received the Visa d’Or Lifetime Achievement Award.
Darcy Padilla — Internationally acclaimed documentary photographer Darcy Padilla is known for immersive, long-term projects examining poverty, public health, displacement, family, and social inequality. Her landmark The Julie Project followed one woman and her family for more than two decades. Padilla is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography, Open Society Institute Individual Fellowship, Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship, Getty Images Grant, and three World Press Photo Awards, including the inaugural Long-Term Projects Award. In 2024, she became the first recipient of the Royal Photographic Society Award for Documentary Photography.
Martin Schoeller — Award-winning photographer Martin Schoeller is renowned for his distinctive close-up portraits, which place subjects—from world leaders and cultural icons to ordinary individuals—before the camera with the same directness and visual treatment. A longtime contributor to The New Yorker, Schoeller has photographed figures including Barack Obama, Angela Merkel, Jay-Z, George Clooney, and Taylor Swift, while his personal projects have explored subjects ranging from female bodybuilders and people experiencing homelessness to Holocaust survivors and Indigenous communities. Schoeller is the recipient of the 2025 Lucie Award for Achievement in Portraiture, the Alfred Eisenstaedt Award for Best New Talent, and honors from the Society of Publication Designers, and his work for Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign received both a D&AD Black Pencil and the Cannes Lions Outdoor Grand Prix. His photographs have been exhibited and collected internationally and are held in the permanent collections of institutions including the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.
Andrew Moore — Guggenheim Fellow Andrew Moore is acclaimed for large-scale, long-term photographic studies examining how history, time, and human activity transform the built and natural landscape. His projects have taken him from Detroit and the American Great Plains to Cuba, Russia, Bosnia, and the American South. Moore received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship and grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and New York State Council on the Arts. His photographs are held in major collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and Library of Congress.
Ken Light — Documentary photographer Ken Light has spent more than five decades examining social and political issues across America, including migration, labor, poverty, the criminal justice system, and the changing American landscape. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts Photographers Fellowships, the Dorothea Lange Fellowship, and a fellowship from the Erna and Victor Hasselblad Foundation, as well as the Thomas More Storke International Journalism Award. The author of twelve books, Light is the Reva and David Logan Professor of Photojournalism and curator of the Center for Photography at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.
Angela Strassheim — Artist and photographer Angela Strassheim is known for psychologically charged work exploring family, religion, domestic life, memory, and forensic evidence. Trained at Yale University and in forensic photography, she brings an unusual intersection of fine-art and investigative practices to her work. Strassheim is a recipient of the Bush Foundation Artist Fellowship, McKnight Foundation Photography Fellowship, Jerome Foundation Fellowship, and Women in Photography LTI/Lightside Grant, and was a finalist for the Rencontres d’Arles International Photography Award. Her work has appeared in the Whitney Biennial and is held by institutions including the Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Yale University Art Gallery, and Israel Museum.
Physician, Global Health Leader & Human Rights Advocate, Essayist for Chapter 2: The Body Public in Act One: A Century in the Making
Dr. Joia Mukherjee is an Associate Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Senior Clinical and Academic Advisor to Partners In Health, where she previously served as Chief Medical Officer for more than two decades. A physician, infectious disease specialist, and internationally recognized advocate for health equity, she has helped develop and strengthen healthcare systems in Haiti, Rwanda, Malawi, Sierra Leone, and other underserved regions. She is the author of An Introduction to Global Health Delivery: Practice, Equity, Human Rights and has advised the World Health Organization and national health ministries on infectious disease and healthcare delivery. Her work examines the intersection of medicine, social justice, and the fundamental right to health.
Human Rights Attorney, Educator & Former President of Human Rights First, Essayist for Chapter 3: The Right to Dignity in Act One: A Century in the Making
Elisa Massimino is the Executive Director of Georgetown Law's Human Rights Institute and a Visiting Professor of Law. A nationally recognized human rights attorney and advocate, she spent 27 years at Human Rights First, including a decade as President and CEO. She previously served as a Senior Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Carr Center for Human Rights Policy and holds Georgetown's former Robert F. Drinan, S.J., Chair in Human Rights. She has testified before Congress dozens of times and has been recognized by The Hill and Washingtonian for her influence in human rights advocacy and foreign policy. Her work focuses on human dignity, international human rights law, and the protection of fundamental freedoms.
Following the discussion, guests will have the opportunity to meet the photographers and scholars, have copies of Act One signed, and continue the conversation with members of New York's photography, creative, academic, and cultural communities.
Whether you are a photographer, student, educator, journalist, or simply interested in photography and the world around us, the evening offers an opportunity to engage directly with photographers whose work has borne witness to some of the defining events, transformations, and questions of our time.
Wednesday, October 21, 2026 GO Studios Penthouse 318 W. 39th St. New York, NY
Attendance is limited to 150 guests. Advance registration is required.
A limited number of tickets are available that include a copy of Act One: A Century in the Making. Books will also be available for purchase and signing at the event. Priority is given to books pre-ordered through purchase of attendance ticket that includes a copy of Act One.
Act One: A Century in the Making is published by Other Side Editions in a first and only edition of 2,000 copies.
Includes chapter events, photographer interviews, partner discounts, industry trends, and more.
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