Photography from The Menil collection: curated by Wendy Watriss is a presentation of documentary-style photographs that underscore how images can ignite conversation about diverse social realities. The exhibition features work by Larry Burrows, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bruce Davidson, Danny Lyon, and Charles Moore, among other significant practitioners in the 20th century who explored varied approaches to capturing everyday moments, from the mundane to the monumental.

The photographs on display were selected by Houston-based photographer and award-winning photojournalist Wendy Watriss. With her late husband, photographer Fred Baldwin, Watriss cofounded FotoFest, a contemporary arts organization whose biennial, city-wide celebration of international photography, established in 1986, transformed Houston’s cultural landscape, globally elevating the medium’s significance.

Photography from The Menil collection: curated by Wendy Watriss is presented in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Fotofest biennial in 2026.

Wendy Watriss is an esteemed Houston-based photographer, curator, and photojournalist. She was the first woman to win the World Press Feature Award and the Leica Oskar Barnack Award, for her 1982 photo essay on Agent Orange published in Life. In the late 1960s, Watriss began her career as a freelance photographer and writer for publications like Newsweek and the New York Times. With her late husband, photographer Fred Baldwin, she co-founded FotoFest. In 1986 the organization hosted its first biyearly city-wide celebration of international photography and transformed Houston’s cultural landscape, elevating the medium’s significance globally. Watriss served as the Artistic Director of FotoFest for 26 years, curating and organizing more than sixty international and US exhibitions. She has received numerous awards, and her photographs are found in collections internationally, including the Museum of Fine Arts Houston; Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth; Briscoe Center for the Study of American History, University of Texas, Austin; Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris; and Musée de la Photographie, Charleroi, Belgium.