Houston, TX – Houston Center for Photography (HCP) is proud to announce the eighth exhibition of the Collaborations program, Pick your Battles.

From May 6 - June 19, HCP’s Learning Center Gallery will showcase work by sixteen participants in the Collaborations VIII program. During the six-month program, students from nine Houston-area high schools met every other week at HCP to develop the concept of the exhibition while sharing their personal experiences and their photographic eye. This year's participants met with artists and photographers Scott Dalton, Lorna Bieber, Peter Brown, Heather Sanchez, and Shelley Calton, who guided them throughout the process of developing their exhibition. Reflecting the participants' confrontations with issues such as stereotypes, self-image, career decisions and relationships, Pick your Battles is exhibition that focuses on the challenges these artists face during their teenage years.

HCP’s Collaborations brings together Houston-area high school students to collectively execute an exhibition of their own work. Now in its eighth year, Collaborations has grown exponentially since it began in 2003 when HCP challenged the photography teachers from two radically different schools to unite and collaborate through the medium of photography. From conception to presentation, the students are involved in every step of planning and executing their exhibition. The Collaborations participants meet bimonthly with an HCP educator and a visiting artist, photographer, or museum professional, to select a theme, critique their work, and to discuss their plans in implementing their final projects.

This year's schools include Bellaire High School, Cy-Fair High School, Episcopal High School, High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, KIPP Houston High School, Lamar High School, St. John's School, The Chinquapin School, and The Kinkaid School.

Collaborations VIII participants are Justin Calvert, Marshall Cargle, Lissette Carranza, Emilee Cooney, Marissa Garcia, Bryna Hoang, Josselin Joya, Bianca Kaushal, Alex Liso, Elyse Lopez, David Copeland Loredo, Junny Ma, Garrett Marsh, Erica Reed, Emily Spence, and Alice Wang.   

Teenagers: Portraits of Identity and Expression - HCP’s Main Gallery, May 6 – June 19, 2011

Kendrick Brinson's Sun City: Life After Life, 2011 HCP Fellowship Recipient, selected by

Bryan Schutmaat's Grays the Mountain Sends, 2011 Carol Crow Memorial Fellowship Exhibition, selected by

Collaborations VIII: Pick Your Battles - HCP’s Learning Center Gallery, May 6 – June 19, 2011

Opening Reception for all four exhibitions at HCP, Friday, May 6, 5:30 - 8:30 p.m.

Juror Jeffrey Teuton in conversation with 2011 Fellowship Recipients Kendrick Brinson and Bryan Schutmaat

Artist Talk with participating artists of Teenagers: Portraits of Identity and Expression and

      Bevin Bering Dubrowski at HCP, Friday, May 6, 6:00 p.m.

Screening of Teen Tribe, a film by Martine Fougeron (2010), Saturday, May 7, 2:00 p.m.