Inside the BarTur Photo Award at NFAC

On Saturday, June 14, NFAC welcomed visitors to the BarTur Photo Award exhibition, featuring photographers from 23 countries and a panel conversation with James Wellford (National Geographic), Kate Bubacz (Rest of World), and award founder Amnon Bar-Tur.

We learned that selecting award-winning photographs isn’t always a slow, academic process. As James and Kate shared, it's often a matter of instinct. A photo either grabs you or it doesn’t, and they know within minutes if it has that deeper pull.

We were deeply moved by the layers of meaning contained in each photograph. The longer you looked, the more it revealed. "I've never seen photographs like this before," shared one of our guests as they thanked our staff for bringing this exhibition to the North Fork. 

That’s the power of programming like this: it invites us to slow down, reflect, and connect through shared experience.

This exhibition is just one example of how NFAC is expanding the possibilities of what an arts center can be. Yes, we love great films, but we’re here to connect, deepen perspective, and build community through art in all its forms.

Take a look at the gallery from that night, and spend some time with the work that moved so many of us.