© Liz Palm, from The Print Swap: Reflections of A Dream

The 10 Anniversary Edition of the Month of Photography Los Angeles has arrived! Since 2009, MOPLA by the Lucie Foundation has been a premiere destination for photographers, collectors, curators, and editors, bringing together exhibitions, projections, and discussions featuring some of the world’s most influential voices. The month-long event includes something for everyone, from classic photography buffs to Instagram influencers. With a focus on everything from fine art to commercial photography, MOPLA is one of the biggest events of the year, and the 10th Anniversary Edition promises to be one of the best ever.

This year’s lineup features an array of storytellers from all corners of the globe, covering topics ranging from inclusivity within the industry to the future of street photography. MOPLA 2018 will also include the ninth installment of Fresh Look: A Portfolio Review on the 13th and 14th of the month, giving participants the invaluable experience of 20-minute face-to-face discussions with industry leaders. Here are just fifteen of the exhibitions and events on the roster. Be sure to check out the full schedule here.

© Joseph Romeo

The Print Swap: Reflections of A Dream, April 14-21.
Location: ROW DTLA, 777 Alameda Street, Building M-1, Suite #140
The Print Swap, Feature Shoot’s worldwide photo-sharing initiative, comes to MOPLA in this exhibition curated by Paul Kopeikin, the director of Kopeikin Gallery. 29 photographers hailing from the US, Canada, Mexico, the UK, Germany, Norway, Ireland, Switzerland, and Malaysia, all of whom have participated in The Print Swap, will be showing work. See all the images here. 50% of the proceeds from this exhibition will go to Artist Campaign School, an organization that mentors artists and trains them to enter the political sphere.

© Jeff Minton

Sense: A Silent Auction to Benefit Multiple Sclerosis, April 25, 6:30-9:30PM.
Location: FLOOD Gallery, 542 North Larchmont Boulevard.
In collaboration with the Lucie Foundation, Rachael Lieberman presents this group show curated around the theme of the five senses. 50 artists, including Martin Schoeller, Corey Arnold, Shaughn + John, Gillian Laub, Manjari Sharma, Jami Saunders, Aline Smithson, and many others, make for a one-of-a-kind silent auction benefiting the neurology department at UCLA and their crucial research to finding a cure and treatments for MS. Currently, there is no cure for MS, and the disease can affect all the senses. In this celebration of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, we find hope and determination. Purchase tickets here, and register here for the auction.

© Julien Capmeil

Wanderlust: A Silent Auction Benefit, April 18, 6-9PM
Location: Space15Twenty, 1520 North Cahuenga Boulevard. 
Jessica Sample curates this show to benefit Earthjustice, our country’s largest non-profit environmental law organization, and their mission to protect the wild, nurture healthy communities, and promote clean energy. Traveling photographers from around the world, ranging from Olivia Bee and Amanda Charchian to Alistair Taylor-Young and Benjamin Rasmusen, present their vision of our planet–one that is full of complexity, fragility, and triumph. Online bidding is open until April 18th at 8:30 PST / 11:30 EST here.

© Angie Smith

Stronger Shines the Light Inside, April 11-15.
Location: Space15Twenty, 1520 North Cahuenga Boulevard. April 11-15.
The photographer Angie Smith and the writer Hanne Steen share stories of the refugee families who have found new homes in Idaho, Salt Lake City, and Los Angeles, rebuilt their lives, enriched their communities, and pursued their own American Dreams. “Of the 65 million displaced people worldwide, only 1% of refugees will be resettled in a host country, and of those, each has endured a long and grueling screening process, often spanning years,” the Stronger Shines the Light team explains. “Every story is different, but each one speaks of hope, of refusal to give up.” Learn see more portraits and read interviews at the Stronger Shines the Light website.

William Allard / Yasuhisa Ishii at Leica Gallery LA, April 5- May 15.
Location: Leica Gallery, 8783 Beverly Boulevard.
Leica Gallery LA presents the work of photographers Yasuhisa Ishii and William Allard. In ‘Paris-Tokyo,’ Ishii captures quiet moments in the bustling cities, writing, “A metropolis is a human made complex so has artificial noise that make people anonymous. I try to find silence in noisy metropolises.” Allard photographs Paris as well, over the course of 31 years. From a photographer who has claimed to miss more photographs than he gets comes a collection of spontaneous, serendipitous scenes from the street.

© Alexander Klang

Month of Photography Los Angeles Group Show, April 14-21.
Location: ROW DTLA, 777 Alemeda St., 1-Unit #100 and Bldg. 2-Suite #158.
The Month of Photography Los Angeles and WeTransfer present this submissions-based group exhibition featuring emerging and established photographers from LA and around the world. This year’s exhibiting photographers include Alexander Klang, Elsa Leydier, Jimmy and Jesse Marble, Michelle Groskopf, Reuben Wu, Sara Swaty, and many others. Artworks are printed by Blazing Editions on ChromaLuxe aluminum.

© Rikki Reich

Lost Rolls America, featuring various participants. April 12-15.
Location: LINE Hotel Los Angeles, 3515 Wilshire Boulevard.
From the archives and attics of a diverse array of Americans comes this collection of images spanning the decades. The photojournalist Ron Haviv invites the public to contribute undeveloped film to Lost Rolls America. From there, participants rediscover moments from their own history and share them with others. Through the project, these once-forgotten photographs are digitally preserved for generations to come. “At a time when it often feels like our country is divided, this archive highlights how Americans are united through common visual themes, shared pasts, and mutual memories,” the exhibition organizers write.

© Elsa Leydier

Instagram Jam, featuring various artists. April 12-15.
Location: LINE Hotel Los Angeles, 3515 Wilshire Boulevard.
On the heels of the wildly successful Instagram Jam 2017 comes this latest edition from emerging and established photographers who help shape and define the app as the medium’s new frontier. The concept for Instagram Jam comes from the photographer Shaughn Crawford. This year’s exhibiting photographers include Brooke DiDonato, Brian Finke, Lisa Guerriero, Ben Zank, and many more. A portion of the proceeds from the show will go to SNAPSHOP! by the Lucie Foundation, a program teaching photography to children from underserved communities throughout LA.

Compton Jr. Posse: Daring to Claim the Sky, April 20.
The photographer Melodie McDaniel shares black and white images from Compton Jr. Posse, a program that trains young people from the neighborhood in equestrian sports and horsemanship. Telling stories of friendship and dedication, she shines light on CJP’s mission to “keep kids on horses and off the streets.”

© Michelle Groskopf

Sentimental by Michelle Groskopf, April 14-21.
Location: ROW DTLA, 777 Alemeda St., Bldg. M-2: Suite #132.
In this exhibition of work from the monograph Sentimental by the street photographer Michelle Groskopf, we see Los Angeles through her eyes. “This book is a map of my whims. It’s a diary, in memory of all the days I trotted half in love down the street,” the artist writes. “It’s how I see colors and how I hold faces up to be worshipped. I want you to know that it’s ok to stare.”

© Emily Berl

Emily Berl: Marilyn, April 26.
Location: Curve Line Space, 3348 North Figueroa Street.
Scheduled to coincide with the release of Marilyn by the photographer Emily Berl (Sturm & Drang Publishers, 2018), this exhibition tells the stories of Los Angeles women who impersonate and pay homage to Marilyn Monroe. In this singular exploration of the “Hollywood Dream,” Berl gives her own tribute to the iconic actress, the legacy she left behind, and the people who’ve been shaped by her history and her city. “My main criteria for photographing these people is that Marilyn has to be a large part of their lives, either as a profession or something they personally draw inspiration from,” the artist has said. “I’m less concerned about how much they look like Marilyn and more concerned about their motivations for becoming her.”

© Wright

Inclusivity Now! Presented by Authority Collective, April 15, 2:30-3:30 PM.
Location: LINE Hotel Los Angeles, 3515 Wilshire Boulevard.
Authority Collective presents a discussion tackling the road to inclusivity within the photo industry, touching on the ways in which equality can be reached and gaps can be bridged. The esteemed panel includes photographers Lauren Crew, Devyn Galindo, Melinda James as well as Jigisha Bouverat, Jigisha Bouverat Collective (JBC), Emma Reeves, founder of Free The Bid, and Danielle Scruggs, photo editor at ESPN’s Undefeated. Photographer and scholar Tara-Lynne Pixley will moderate the discussion, and there will be a Question & Answer period to open the floor to emerging voices.

© Aline Smithson

Analogue Portrait Project, April 27.
Location: Smashbox Studios, 8549 Higuera Street, Culver City, CA.
Smashbox Studios hosts the 5th annual Analogue Portrait Project, a collection of film photographs from emerging and established photographers. For this submissions-based exhibition, judges Andrea Streiber, Studio Director of Smashbox Studios, Ron Haviv, award winning photojournalist and Founder of VII Photo Agency, Kate Kuo, Photo Editor at the Los Angeles Times, and MaryAnn Camilleri, Founder and President of the Magenta Foundation, selected 25 portraits.

© Richard Farber

Robert Farber: 44 Years of Capturing Beauty, April 7-9.
Location: Space15Twenty, 1520 North Cahuenga Boulevard.
30 works from the legendary American photographer Robert Farber, printed on ChromaLuxe aluminum by Blazing Editions, will be on view in this exhibition spanning more than four decades of work. Known for his landscapes, nudes, and still lives, Farber is the author of thirteen photo books, and his work is held in major collections around the world, including the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis estate collection. A PBS documentary about the artist’s life and work is currently in development. The artist will be present for the exhibition opening.

© Nan Goldin

Real Worlds: Brassaï, Arbus, Goldin, March 4 – September 3.
Location: The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 250 South Grand Avenue.
MOCA presents this exhibition of about one hundred works from three photographers who shaped the medium. Spanning The Secret Paris of the 30’s (1976) by Brassaï, Diane Arbus: An Aperture Monograph (1972) by Arbus (published posthumously), and The Ballad of Sexual Dependency (1986) by Goldin, this collection offers unparalleled insight into each artist’s mind and their individual and collective influence on generations of photographers.

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