"Global Perspectives, Local Places: Photography, Community, and Public Dialogue", VISCOM Gallery Walk with Rich-Joseph Facun.

Rich-Joseph Facun will share a selection of photographs from his international assignments in the United Arab Emirates, India, and Haiti before tracing his transition to a long-term, post-documentary practice rooted in Appalachia. Through photographs and personal reflections, he will discuss the relationships between history, culture, economics, and place, while considering how broader historical, social, and political forces shape the communities we inhabit. The presentation will conclude with a guided gallery walk through 1804, his current exhibition at the VisCom Focus Gallery, exploring Ohio University and its evolving relationship with the surrounding community. Together, the presentation and gallery walk invite participants to reflect on the connections between global and local perspectives and how photography can foster dialogue across cultures, histories, and communities.

Rich-Joseph Facun is an Otomí and Pinoy storyteller, photographer, and publisher based in the Appalachian foothills of Southeast Ohio. Over the past twenty-five years, his work has taken him from international assignments in the United Arab Emirates, India, and Haiti to long-term projects examining history, culture, economics, and place in Appalachia. He is the author of the photobooks Black Diamonds, Little Cities, and 1804, which together consider themes of landscape, memory, and community. His monographs are held in the collections of institutions including the Getty Research Institute, Yale University, and the Musée Nicéphore Niépce. Facun is an alumnus of Ohio University whose work explores the relationships between people, place, history, and community through long-term documentary photography.

The CIS Thursday Forum is a weekly series focusing on international research, scholarship and creative activity for the OHIO community.