DATE: Tuesday, November 10, 2026
TIME: 6 PM – 7 PM (Closing reception starts at 5 PM)
4 Participating Panel: Gina Minielli, Jim Richards, Tony Gonzalez, and Zachary Schulman
Moderated by: Stephanie S. Lee
Join participating photographers Gina Minielli, Jim Richards, Tony Gonzalez, and Zachary Schulman for a conversation moderated by curator Stephanie S. Lee. The discussion will explore each artist’s photographic practice, approach to portraiture, and the ideas of identity, representation, belonging, and lived experience reflected throughout Portraits of America. The program will conclude with an audience Q&A.
All are welcome.
Come by early for a closing reception! At 5 PM, we will host a special evening program presented in conjunction with Portraits of America.
About Panelists
Gina Minielli is a Queens-based photographer with an M.F.A. from Queens College and a B.F.A. from the School of Visual Arts. She previously served as Chief Photographer for the New York Mets and as First Assistant to renowned portrait photographer Arnold Newman. A lifelong Queens resident, Minielli is deeply committed to documenting the people, histories, and social issues that shape her community. She currently teaches photography at Queens College, Queensborough Community College, and Molloy University.
Jim Richards is a New York City–based photographer, sculptor, papermaker, and curator. His practice has developed through self-directed study as well as coursework at the Art Students League, Penland School of Crafts, and Women’s Studio Workshop. His work has been exhibited by galleries and arts organizations throughout the United States and has received several awards. Richards is also involved in curatorial projects across New York City. Richards’ photographic practice is rooted in light, pattern, storytelling, and human connection. His “straw camera,” a wooden box containing approximately 4,000 straws, functions as a subtractive projector that fragments and transforms the image of a sitter. By obscuring certain visual information, the process reveals qualities that might otherwise remain unseen. Richards further extends the photographs through printing and framing methods that incorporate sculptural elements into the finished work.
Tony Gonzalez is an artist and educator based in Hudson, New York, and working in New York City. He received his B.F.A. from The Cooper Union School of Art and his M.F.A. from Yale University. Gonzalez has taught photography for more than 30 years, including at The Cooper Union, Pratt Institute, and New York University. Since 2002, he has taught full-time at Queens College, CUNY, where he is a tenured professor and Deputy Chair of the Photography & Imaging B.F.A. Program. His work has been exhibited
nationally and internationally.
Gonzalez’s photographic practice includes the Bathers, Bedroom, NAIADS, and Fairytale series. His work brings historical photographic processes into dialogue with contemporary digital technologies. In his most recent Fairytale series, Gonzalez combines gum bichromate printing with digital methods, drawing on more than two decades of research into alternative photographic processes. He has developed a process for creating tri-color gum prints over cyanotype using a digital workflow. As both an artist and educator, Gonzalez is committed to preserving the tactile qualities of historical photography while making these complex processes more accessible to contemporary photographers and students.
Zachary Schulman is a New York City–based photographer and oral historian whose work engages with community, ancestry, migration, environmental concerns, and social change. His photographs have been exhibited at the Museum of the City of New York, Central Park’s Arsenal Gallery, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and Photoville, and have appeared in numerous national publications and media outlets. Before becoming a professional photographer, Schulman spent 14 years working directly with New York City community gardeners as an organizer, program manager, and advocate.
His ongoing Community Gardener Portrait Project celebrates community gardeners throughout New York City and includes more than 150 portraits from over 50 gardens across the five boroughs. Combining environmental portraiture with one-on-one oral history interviews, Schulman centers gardeners as storytellers and historians, highlighting their knowledge, achievements, and contributions to their communities.
Moderated by Stephanie S. Lee
Stephanie S. Lee is a Queens-based curator, visual artist, educator, and arts organizer whose work centers on creating dialogue between artists, audiences, and communities. She is the founder and director of The Garage Art Center, where she curates exhibitions, artist talks, panel discussions, and public programs,
and has curated more than 70 solo and group exhibitions. Her work and curatorial projects have been featured in *The New York Times*, *The Wall Street Journal*, *Hyperallergic*, NY1, and WNBC. Lee holds a B.F.A. and an M.S. in Museums and Digital Culture from Pratt Institute.
