The Library at MAF and Corita Art Center presents Catching Sight with Paul Pfeiffer
Focusing on Corita Kent’s lesser known yet profoundly significant photographic practice, Catching Sight places her work in a broader historical and cultural context, emphasizing the critical role that photographic archives play in the continuous shaping of history, community, and artistic creation. Corita’s camera allowed her to “see for the sake of seeing.” As an artist and arts educator, the photographs she created and collected significantly shaped her artistic practice and teaching methods. For Corita, everything was a source, and photography was not only a creative tool but a way to view the world in new and meaningful ways.
Paul Pfeiffer brings together eighty of Corita Kent’s 35mm slides as part of his ongoing interest in how images shape our sense of presence and meaning. Known for reworking sports footage and pop culture icons into meditations on power and memory, Pfeiffer turns here to Corita’s photographs of the everyday. Street signs, passing figures, and simple objects become heightened moments of attention, a quiet homily to the beauty of what is usually overlooked. In conversation with his own practice, these slides offer a way of thinking about images as both record and altar, holding space for the ordinary to become extraordinary
Pfeiffer’s first large-scale retrospective of his work at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2023-24) is traveling to the Guggenheim Bilbao (2024-2025) and MCA Chicago (2025).
As part of Corita Art Center’s mission to initiate new forms and conversations inspired by our collections, Catching Sight explores photography’s role in Corita’s art and pedagogy through a series of lectures, programs, and exhibitions. Reflecting Corita’s collaborative spirit, we invite curators, writers, artists, and educators to creatively engage our extensive 35mm slide collection, offering fresh and diverse insights into her pioneering vision.
The Library at MAF and Corita Art Center presents Catching Sight with Paul Pfeiffer
Focusing on Corita Kent’s lesser known yet profoundly significant photographic practice, Catching Sight places her work in a broader historical and cultural context, emphasizing the critical role that photographic archives play in the continuous shaping of history, community, and artistic creation. Corita’s camera allowed her to “see for the sake of seeing.” As an artist and arts educator, the photographs she created and collected significantly shaped her artistic practice and teaching methods. For Corita, everything was a source, and photography was not only a creative tool but a way to view the world in new and meaningful ways.
Paul Pfeiffer brings together eighty of Corita Kent’s 35mm slides as part of his ongoing interest in how images shape our sense of presence and meaning. Known for reworking sports footage and pop culture icons into meditations on power and memory, Pfeiffer turns here to Corita’s photographs of the everyday. Street signs, passing figures, and simple objects become heightened moments of attention, a quiet homily to the beauty of what is usually overlooked. In conversation with his own practice, these slides offer a way of thinking about images as both record and altar, holding space for the ordinary to become extraordinary
Pfeiffer’s first large-scale retrospective of his work at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2023-24) is traveling to the Guggenheim Bilbao (2024-2025) and MCA Chicago (2025).
As part of Corita Art Center’s mission to initiate new forms and conversations inspired by our collections, Catching Sight explores photography’s role in Corita’s art and pedagogy through a series of lectures, programs, and exhibitions. Reflecting Corita’s collaborative spirit, we invite curators, writers, artists, and educators to creatively engage our extensive 35mm slide collection, offering fresh and diverse insights into her pioneering vision.