PhotoGraffiti at Deep Ellum Art Co. Shows Off Rising Dallas Photographers

Many us have go-to photographers who allow us to live vicariously through their imagery, whose feeds we stalk after every major concert or event. While we enjoy seeing their visual storytelling through social media or online in concert reviews, many of these photographers have not had a platform outside of the digital space. Selling tangible artwork proves to be more of a challenge for artists.

At PhotoGraffiti, a photography exhibition that launched at Deep Ellum Art Co. July 1, photographers will showcase their work in physical formats and sell their prints. Many of them will be exhibiting their work for the first time.

Local concert photographer Andrew Sherman served as a guest curator for PhotoGraffiti.

“I basically just was looking for friends of mine that are photographers that haven't really put their work out in the world too much,” Sherman says. “... We're all looking at their photos all the time on Facebook, but they've never actually printed them out.”

“Andrew has pretty much been our resident photographer since we opened in September of 2017,” adds Deep Ellum Art Co. co-owner Kari LaRue. “And we haven't had a strictly photography exhibit. So this is our first time to do that.”

For the exhibition, Sherman enlisted photographers Jay Simon, Sergio Zuniga, Jessica Waffles, Austin Marc Graf and Melissa Laree Cunningham. He didn’t set a specific theme, but he says the photos will offer different views of Dallas life, including concert photography and notable places throughout the city.

“I wanted to leave [the theme] open,” Sherman says, “because again, for these artists that have never printed their work up before, it was a challenge to figure out what to do and how to approach it and what to use. And so I felt like if I limited it too much, some people might not even have that in their repertoire.”

PhotoGrafitti will run until Oct. 1. The exhibition is free to attend, but donations are encouraged. Photos will also be available for purchase online.

LaRue notes that Deep Ellum Art Co. will only collect “an extremely small portion” of photography sales, allowing collectors to support the artists directly.

“Art Co. has always been a place of community and collaboration,” says Waffles. “It's been an inspirational facility since its conception and I'm thankful it's a home in Deep Ellum for artists of all kinds. I'm really looking forward to seeing the work of my fellow Dallas photographers. I've been a fan of all of them for years and getting to show art alongside them is exciting.”