October 02, 2026
ArtCenter College of Design Presents My Eyes Are My Lens, an Exhibition Showcasing Work Created by Members of the College’s Film, Photography and Imaging Faculty
Works on display include “vintage” photographs used in Killers of the Flower Moon and Wonder Woman and a glamorous black-and-white 1980s portrait of actor Don Johnson
Film clips from a variety of movies and TV shows will also be shown, including HBO’s The Wire and an upcoming documentary about the first female pilots of World War II
Exhibition on view October 5–16, 2026
Opening Reception and Faculty Conversation: Tuesday, October 6 from 5–9 p.m.
FREE and open to the public
Pasadena, CA—ArtCenter College of Design is pleased to present My Eyes Are My Lens, an exhibition showcasing work created by faculty members of ArtCenter’s renowned Film, Photography and Imaging program, on view October 5 through 16, 2026, in the Media Design Practices Gallery in the 950 building at the College’s South Campus. An opening reception will take place Tuesday, October 6 from 5–6 p.m. in the Flex Space located in the 950 building, followed by a conversation with Film faculty from 6–9 p.m. in the Media Design Practices Gallery.
The exhibition will feature work by Ken Aguado, Stephen Berkman (BFA 88), David S. Bouza, Shannon Dion (MFA 19), Matia Karrell, Joy Kecken, Joe Petricca, Matthew Rolston (DHL 06) and Emmett Sutherland (BFA 15).
“Thanks to our location in the heart of Greater Los Angeles, ArtCenter has unique access to A-list talent who, as faculty, share their intimate knowledge with the next generation of filmmakers,” says Andrew Harlow, a faculty member in ArtCenter’s Film program, who curated the exhibition. “My Eyes Are My Lens is dedicated to, and a celebration of, the College’s Film faculty and their work.”
A strong photographic element runs through My Eyes Are My Lens. Featured in the exhibition is Don Johnson, Polo Clothes, a glamorous portrait of the then-Miami Vice star from alum and celebrated photographer Matthew Rolston. This particular image, originally commissioned by Andy Warhol, is included in a retrospective of 1980s celebrity portraiture at Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, concurrent with My Eyes Are My Lens. Rolston will speak at ArtCenter’s opening reception on Tuesday, October 6.
Also on view are “vintage” photographs by alum Stephen Berkman, a photographer who uses equipment and techniques from the earliest days of photography to blur the lines between history and fantasy. Photographs by Berkman from films, including Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger (2013) and fellow alum Tarsem Singh’s (BFA 90) The Fall (2006), will be on display.
Additionally on display by Berkman will be Wonder Woman 1854, a photograph he created for Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman (2017), which was produced and co-written by alum and trustee Zack Snyder. The photograph features actress Gal Gadot as the titular hero posing for a group portrait in a Crimean War setting. The photo is from Snyder’s personal collection and hints at a film project that never came to fruition. Snyder and Berkman are co-teaching the course Dark Visions: Art of Horror at the College this Fall term.
Other works on display include a 2024 channel ident for MTV designed by Emmett Sutherland and directed by Tom Kuntz, and a series of eight photographs of Los Angeles during the 1992 riots/uprising by David Bouza, whose career began as a still photographer. Bouza's images were featured in the Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine documentary The Defiant Ones.
Additionally, several clips from features, documentaries and television shows will be on display, including from:
- The Emmy Award-winning PBS documentary Miracle on 42nd Street (2017) by Ken Aguado, about the history and impact of the Manhattan Plaza apartment complex in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood in New York City;
- Latasha Harlins: A Rose That Grew from Concrete (2025), a feature film written, directed and produced by Shannon Dion and based on the true story of a 15-year-old African American girl who was killed prior to the L.A. riots/uprising;
- Coming Home: Fight for a Legacy, a forthcoming documentary by writer, director and producer Matia Karrell, about the first female pilots of World War II whose achievements were buried by those who wished them to fail;
- Episodes from the David Simon-created HBO drama series The Wire, written and directed by Joy Kecken, as well as the O’Shea Jackson-starring Apple TV+ drama series Swagger, for which Kecken served as executive producer;
- The short film A Meditation (2018), written and directed by Joe Petricca and starring Harold Perrineau and Samantha Colicchio, which tells the story of a surprising encounter triggered by an attempt to sell a DVR on Craigslist.
About the exhibiting faculty:
Ken Aguado is a producer, screenwriter, playwright and author. His most recent films include the acclaimed theatrical film An Interview with God, which he wrote and produced, and the Emmy Award-winning PBS documentary Miracle on 42nd Street. He also wrote the upcoming film A Visit to Grandpa's, a feature adaptation of the Dylan Thomas story of the same name, starring Anthony Hopkins.
Stephen Berkman (BFA 88) is a photographer who uses equipment from the earliest days of photography and resurrects forgotten techniques (i.e. tintypes, wet collodion) to develop projects that blur the boundaries between the historical past and the imaginary. His "vintage" photographs have been featured in numerous period films, including Patty Jenkin’s Wonder Woman (2017) and Martin Scorcese’s Killers of the Flower Moon (2023).
David Bouza has more than 30 years of experience in the motion picture industry, where he worked his way up from camera assistant to director of photography on features, short films, documentaries, corporate promos, commercials and music videos. His credits include Terry Zwigoff’s Bad Santa (2003), Agnès Varda’s The Beaches of Agnès (2008) and Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right (2010).
Shannon Dion (MFA 19) wrote, directed and produced the award-winning short film Latasha Harlins: A Rose That Grew from Concrete (2025), the true story of a 15-year-old girl whose life and legacy sparked a movement. Dion’s passion for this project stretched back to his days as an ArtCenter student. Prior to ArtCenter, he attended Oliver Wendell Holmes Academy in Dallas, Texas, where he excelled in theatre and drama.
Matia Karrell is a writer, director and producer whose credits include the Academy Award-nominated short Cadillac Dreams (1988), The West Wing, the Kiefer Sutherland-starring Behind the Red Door (2001) and HBO’s The Tale (2018), starring Laura Dern. In 2024, she received an NEH award for Coming Home: Fight for a Legacy, her forthcoming documentary on the first female military pilots during WWII.
Joy Kecken is a showrunner, director, writer-producer, playwright and librettist. She has written and directed for the critically acclaimed HBO series, The Wire. She was an executive producer of Swagger on Apple TV+, a supervising producer on Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger and a consulting producer on the award-winning feature documentary, The Biggest Little Farm (2018), which took Telluride and TIFF by storm.
Joe Petricca is a writer, filmmaker, and educator. He is the co-chair of ArtCenter’s Film, Photography and Imaging program, where he has taught since 2022. He has also been a faculty member at Los Angeles City College, New York Film Academy and Art Division. As a screenwriter, he has adapted books and true-life stories for Academy and Cannes Award-winning directors and producers.
Matthew Rolston (DHL 06) is an artist who works in photography and video and whose practice centers largely on celebrity portraiture, with subjects ranging from Madonna and Michael Jackson to Prince and Cyndi Lauper. His works are in the permanent collections of institutions including The Getty, LACMA, MoMA, the V&A, the International Center of Photography, and The Whitney Museum of American Art.
Emmett Sutherland (BFA 15) is an award-winning cinematographer, creative director, and emerging technology practitioner with more than a decade of experience in branded content, education and storytelling. At ArtCenter, his student film Closer garnered him the American Society of Cinematographer’s Heritage Award. He has shot music videos for artists like A$AP Rocky, channel idents for MTV, and commercials for Amazon, BetterHelp and Hermes.
The exhibition is free and open to the public.
DATES, TIMES and LOCATIONS
My Eyes Are My Lens
October 5–16, 2026
Open daily 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Media Design Practices Gallery
ArtCenter College of Design, South Campus
950 S. Raymond Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91105
Opening Reception & Conversation:
Tuesday, October 6, 2026, 5–9 p.m.
Media Design Practices Gallery and Flex Space
ArtCenter College of Design, South Campus
950 S. Raymond Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91105
FREE and open to the public; RSVPs required
5–6 p.m. | Flex Space
Opening remarks by President Karen Hofmann and Faculty Council Chair Shanna Dobson, Ph.D., a co-organizer of the exhibition; followed by remarks by artist, photographer and Film faculty Matthew Rolston (DHL 06).
6–9 p.m. | Media Design Practices Gallery
A conversation with members of ArtCenter’s Film, Photography and Imaging faculty.
About ArtCenter’s BFA and MFA programs in Film
The 1970s, often called New Hollywood or the American New Wave, was a transformative era for filmmaking. As the traditional studio system collapsed, a new generation of film schools emerged, helping to redefine how film was taught. In 1973, ArtCenter College of Design, with an already established reputation for a rigorous, world-class design education, created its Film program, with its students going on to become influential in the modern blockbuster, commercials and music video genres. Today, the College offers both a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film and a Master of Fine Arts in Film within its Film, Photography and Imaging program.
About ArtCenter
Founded in 1930 and located in Pasadena, California, ArtCenter College of Design is a global leader in art and design education. With a mission to educate, inspire and empower creative and design leadership, the College is renowned for its undergraduate and graduate degree programs spanning industrial design, media and technology, as well as visual and applied arts. With deep industry relationships, state-of-the-art facilities and a strong faculty roster, ArtCenter provides real-world experience aligned with industry needs. Through rigorous, hands-on, practitioner-led instruction, the College prepares students for meaningful creative careers. For nearly 100 years, ArtCenter alumni and faculty have shaped many of the world’s most iconic products, vehicles, campaigns and creative works, leaving a lasting impact across art, design and culture.
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