Artist Statement

This statement refers to my observational work made in public space.

My work focuses on overlooked moments of everyday life, from the mundane to the quietly strange. I’m interested in human interactions and the ways people move through and relate to their surroundings, especially when a moment feels mid-story and unresolved. By isolating these fleeting instances, the photographs invite viewers to complete the narrative themselves. The work centers on moments that appear briefly, then fade.

Bio

Charles Ford is a Houston-based photographer whose work centers on observation in public space. Raised in Texas, he earned a BBA from The University of Texas at Austin before receiving a BFA in photography from ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena.

After graduating from ArtCenter, Ford taught photography at The University of Texas at Austin before relocating to New York City. From the early 1980s through the early 1990s, he photographed fashion and portraits for publications including Vogue, GQ, and Rolling Stone while simultaneously developing an extensive body of observational photographs made in the streets and subways of New York.

Since returning to Texas in the early 1990s, Ford has continued his photographic practice. In recent years, he has revisited and printed previously unseen work from the 1970s through the 1990s, leading to recent exhibitions and recognition including a solo exhibition at the Houston Center for Photography, the Belfast Photo Festival, Kolga Tbilisi Photo Festival, and Critical Mass Top 50.A selection of Ford’s New York photographs will also appear in a forthcoming issue of KATALOG.

C.V. 

2026

Upcoming publication in KATALOG with an essay by Dr. Howard Bossen

2025

Critical Mass Top 50, Photolucida

Exhibitions: Duncan Miller Gallery (Los Angeles); Blue Sky Gallery (Portland)

Solo Exhibition, Fleeting Narratives, Kolga Tbilisi Photo Festival, Tbilisi, Georgia

Exhibition Winner, Belfast Photo Festival, Belfast, Northern Ireland

Deck the Walls, Catherine Couturier Gallery, Houston

2024

Solo Exhibition, Strangeness of Life, Houston Center for Photography, Houston

Center for Photographic Art — International Juried Exhibition
Juror: Elizabeth Avedon

LensCulture Art Photography Awards — Jurors’ Picks
Selected by Yuri Yamada, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum

PhotoPlace Gallery — Portrait: Self and Others
Juror: Aline Smithson

PhotoPlace Gallery — Monochrome
Juror: Henry Horenstein

SXSE Gallery — 40 Over 40
Juror: Elizabeth Avedon

2023

Winner, Life Framer Award — Humans of the World
Juror: Martin Parr

Gold, Budapest International Foto Awards

2022

Finalist, LensCulture Street Photography Awards