Residency Program
Risograph Residents
2026
We are pleased to announce the 2026 Penumbra Foundation Risograph Publication Residents.
This year’s jury was composed by: Catherine E. McKinley, Joshua Chuang, and Travis Shaffer.
Mariamma Kambon
Mariamma Kambon is a Harlem-based, Caribbean-born photographer whose practice spans portraiture, documentary, and entertainment photography. Her work is grounded in socially engaged storytelling. After studying at the International Center of Photography and earning an MFA in Art from Cornell University, she established a freelance practice in New York City. Mariamma has collaborated with organizations including the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, EnFoco, and the National Black Theatre and has work featured in the permanent collection of the Studio Museum in Harlem. Previously, Mariamma founded and led a commercial photography business in Trinidad and Tobago, working with major regional and international clients including the Fifth Summit of the Americas, Caribbean Airlines and national media. Her practice combines technical rigor, research, and a commitment to capturing layered cultural narratives.
mariammakambon.com
Proposal: Call Me Brother
Image © Mariamma Kambon, courtesy of the artist.
"Call Me Brother" sits at the intersection of personal identity and national history in post-independence Trinidad and Tobago. The protagonist, Khafra Kambon, is an activist, educator, and also my father. The book is framed around the evolution of “The Name” - the name he was given at birth, the name he chose during the Black Power era, and the names that community and nation bestowed upon him. Each title serves as a marker of personal, cultural, and political transformation. With focus on “The Name”, "Call Me Brother" illustrates the evolution of an individual in conjunction with the shifting identity of a nation.
-Mariamma Kambon
Landon Nordeman
Landon Nordeman is an American photographer based in New York City. His career began as a newspaper photographer in Virginia before studying Visual Communication at Ohio University. Over the past two decades, Nordeman has shot personal projects and assignments for Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, Vogue, and The New York Times, among others. His work—covering everything from fashion week to political conventions—has earned recognition from Communication Arts, American Photography, Pictures of the Year International, and the James Beard Foundation. His first monograph, Out of Fashion (Damiani, 2016), was named a photobook of the year by TIME. His photographs are held in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Columbus Museum of Art. His recent series, “Last Night,” was shown at the Leica Gallery in NYC in 2025, and at AIPAD, NYC in 2026, and will be exhibited at The Museum of The City of New York in November, 2026, as part of their Photography Triennial, "New York Now: After Dark." He teaches at the International Center of Photography in
New York.
Proposal: Portrait City
Image © Landon Nordeman, courtesy of the artist.
Inspired by Walker Evans’ portraits in Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, and the portraits of August Sander’s People of the Twentieth Century, I have embarked on a new series of work comprised of close-up portraits of people I encounter in New York City. My intent is simple: to reveal their humanity by photographing only their face. It is an empirical representation for sure: one that champions the value of each person—no matter their social standing or occupation. Throughout my photographic practice, I have always sought to reduce the photograph to its most critical elements by eliminating un-wanted objects, details, or even light within the frame of my camera lens. I use flash photography to only reveal that which I want to see—that which the flash illuminates. In this new series of work, I have decided to take it a step further, by eliminating all of the context of the photograph--only the subject’s face remains (lit by my flash.) This desire to reduce the photographic image as much as possible led me to consider alternative printing processes, and how I might take the work even one step further, to abandon CMYK printing techniques to serve the purpose of creating something even more reduced. It is this desire to experiment and to give myself agency in the printing process, which led me to apply for the Risograph Residency at Penumbra. With Penumbra’s support, I hope to make an artist’s book of portraits that will transcend even the very faces of the subjects within it. The resulting book will serve as a record of this critical moment in history, yet will also speak to the social tension inherent in a collection of portraits that defy categorization.
–Landon Nordeman
Patricia Voulgaris
Patricia Voulgaris is an artist from New York who graduated with an MFA from the Yale School of Art in 2024 and holds a BFA from the School of Visual Arts. Her work has been exhibited and featured in publications such as New York Magazine, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Harper’s Magazine. She has participated in residencies at Yaddo, the Brooklyn Darkroom Traveling Residency and Baxter Street, and has received grants from the Lucie Foundation and the Aaron Siskind Foundation.
Proposal: Disappearing Not Death
Image © Patricia Voulgaris, courtesy of the artist.
The proposed project is well suited to Risograph reproduction. The black-and-white nature of the prints translates well to the process, producing images that are tonally straightforward, often rendered through halftone dots in black ink. However, the results become much richer when printing with both black and white inks. I have made handmade zines using a laser printer in the past and am excited to apply this process in a new way. The Risograph’s unique visual qualities of tonal variation, and slight imperfections would complement the project’s exploration of truth, illusion, and the instability of perception. The process would allow for experimentation with overlays, transparency, and texture, echoing the ghostly and layered nature of spirit photography and historical image-making. Its hands-on, analog approach aligns closely with my practice and encourages creative risk-taking, while the ability to produce small editions makes it ideal for sharing work in an accessible, tactile format. I am eager to bring this project to life in book form and share it with a broader community.
-Patricia Voulgaris
Finalists
In addition to the 2026 residents, three artists were selected as finalists:
Adrianna Ault (Impeded Stream)
Aakash Gulzar - Kotarbaaz (Pigeon Keeper)
Steven Molina Contreras - Una Noche en Sonsonate (One Night in Sonsonate)
Sponsor
The Risograph Residency is sponsored in part by the
Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation.
Penumbra's residency programs receive additional support from the Ruth Foundation for the Arts, Joy of Giving Something (JGS), The Lawrence Foundation, and are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
