Radical Camera
Columbus Museum of Art Exhibition Campaign
The Challenge
I was asked to create a :30 campaign commercial promoting Radical Camera, an exhibition featuring photographs from the New York Photo League. While the exhibit included powerful imagery, simply presenting the photographs with music would not fully communicate the importance of the work or the story behind the artists who created it.
The challenge was to give audiences a reason to care about the images by providing context that made the work feel urgent, human, and historically meaningful.
The Insight
Through research, I discovered that the story of the New York Photo League was as important as the photographs themselves.
The League was formed by photographers who believed the medium could document real life in New York City. Many of its members were everyday people, not well-known artists, who captured both the beauty and hardship of city life. During the McCarthy era, the organization was labeled as communist, which led to internal conflict, blacklisting, and eventual disbandment. For years, much of this work remained unseen.
That history transformed the exhibit from a collection of photographs into a story about art, politics, courage, and community.
The Creative Approach
I structured the commercial as a narrative rather than a showcase. Using interviews with Photo League members and archival recordings, I edited together audio that introduced the organization, reflected its ideals, and revealed the tension and consequences it faced.
Selected quotes were paired with carefully chosen photographs to establish mood and progression. The piece moves from the energy of New York City life into mystery and conflict, then returns to the League’s central belief in using photography to make the world more visible and more honest.
The pacing, sound design, and image selection were designed to evoke the emotional weight of the era while maintaining clarity and restraint.
The Result
The final campaign framed the exhibition as a powerful historical moment rather than a static collection of images. By grounding the visuals in story and voice, the work created emotional engagement and context that encouraged audiences to see the photographs as both art and testimony.
What This Project Demonstrates
This project reflects my ability to uncover the deeper story behind visual content and shape it into a compelling narrative. By focusing on context, voice, and intention, I translated archival material into a campaign that connected history to a modern audience.
