For summer 2026, SF Camerawork and Haines Gallery present a solo show featuring major work by an acclaimed San Francisco Bay Area photographer. John Chiara is an artist whose practices are deeply rooted in the history of photography while continually expanding the medium’s possibilities.

Presented in SF Camerawork’s gallery at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, John Chiara: Bay Panel centers on ambitious, large-scale works that exemplify the artist’s singular approach to image-making. The exhibition celebrates SF Camerawork’s central role within the SF Bay Area photography community and its decades-long commitment to supporting artists whose practices have challenged and redefined the field.

For Chiara, SF Camerawork has played an important role early in his artistic development, providing support and visibility at pivotal moments in his career. The exhibition honors that history while underscoring the organization’s lasting impact on photographers working in and around San Francisco for more than 50 years.

John Chiara: Bay Panel. John Chiara describes his process as “part photography, part sculpture, and part event.” Working with and within enormous, hand-built cameras that he transports throughout Northern California on a flatbed trailer, the artist creates unique positive photographs directly onto color photographic paper, without the use of a negative.

The resulting works retain visible traces of their making: hand-cut edges, tape marks, chemical streaking, and light leaks that foreground photography as a physical and performative act.

John Chiara: “Bay Panel” centers on the six-part, horizontal work from 2020 of the same title, originally commissioned by the Pilara Family Foundation for an exhibition in their former space. Shown only briefly before being placed in storage, the work now returns to public view for the first time. Stretching more than 24 feet in length, “Bay Panel” offers a sweeping meditation on the San Francisco Bay and the city’s layered photographic history. Referencing the panoramic traditions of 19th-century photographers such as Eadweard Muybridge, Chiara’s work captures the Bay’s shifting atmosphere alongside markers of urban development and commercial exchange, including the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco’s distinct skyline, and passing cargo ships, viewed from various vantages across the Bay. At once ethereal and finely detailed, “Bay Panel” highlights the dynamism and beauty of the SF Bay Area itself. Additional photographs included in the exhibition further demonstrate Chiara’s singular practice and his sustained engagement with the landscapes and histories of Northern California.

Artist Talk & Exhibition Walk Through with John Chiara: Saturday, July 18, 2026 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Check SFCamerawork.org for updates.