A native of Oakland, California, Traci Bartlow is an artist and entrepreneur with a longstanding career as an activist, business owner, photographer, dance educator, lecturer, curator, and cultural archivist. In 2023 she received a proclamation from the mayor of Oakland, California recognizing her significant contributions as “a great woman of Hip Hop.” This reflects decades of work in Hip Hop culture the areas of dance and photography.
Bartlow is a story consultant and contributing writer for the 2022 EMMY award-winning film If Cities Could Dance – Oakland Boogaloo. She has served her community for many years as a founding member of EastSide Cultural Center, a board member for City Center Dance Theater, and consulted with several arts and social justice organizations on scaling their impact on their changing neighborhoods.
In 2024 she was awarded a YBCA Creative Corps Fellowship in support of her transformative community engagement programming. Currently she is preparing to publish a coffee table photography book of photographs and stories of her work as a photojournalist in the 1990s.
As the sun goes down on the Opening Day of our 2025 festival, join us for our annual Opening Night Celebration, featuring a exploration of the stories behind the lens in CatchLight’s “Night of Photojournalism”; and a preview of “Witness” by Tamir Kalifa.
Learn MoreA panel discussion moderated by MFON co-founders Laylah Amatullah Barryan and Adama Delphine Fawundu will feature contributing photographers sharing perspectives on photography and spirituality.
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