The artists in FRESH: Youth Culture in Contemporary Photographs have made the theme of youth and youth culture an integral part of their artistic practice in either brief investigations or in extended series spanning the past ten years. Several of the photographers in this exhibition were not consciously drawn to the subject per se, nor have thought of it as it’s own select genre. But for all of these artists, their interests in various contemporary sub cultural phenomenon—urban lifestyles, modern tribes, the underground, as well as the constructs of gender, race, and identity—combined with aesthetic methodologies of staged photography, portraiture, or documentation - have led them knowingly or unknowingly to the subject. FRESH attempts to define the emergence of this genre and includes seven artists who were selected for their diversity in aesthetic approach, age, and cultural perspective. The portraits of Dawoud Bey and Dennis Olanzo Callwood, the staged photographs of teenage girls by Justine Kurland, and the  documentary  photographs and films of graffiti kids and skateboarders by Cheryl Dunn comment on the constructs that define youth during adolescence. The other artists featured document the social practices and lifestyles emerging as distinct cultures, but from the photographer’s perspective as an insider. The trials, exploits, and collective passions of young adults are evident in the work of Ari Marcopoulos, Ryan McGinley, and Nick Waplington, who photograph youth collectives—snowboarders, global nomads, and underground urban dwellers. From staged scenes and portraiture to real time visual chronicles, the exhibition reveals the disparate worlds common to contemporary culture and representative of youth as a complex state of mind and being. Nancy Barr Carlo McCormick