Consuelo Kanaga: Catch the spirit presents the first West Coast retrospective on the work of this critical yet overlooked figure in the history of modern photography. A bicoastal artist between San Francisco and New York, Consuelo Kanaga was one of the first women to become a staff photojournalist at a major newspaper — The San Francisco chronicle — in the 1910s.

Over the course of six decades, Kanaga championed the artistic value of photography and documented urgent social issues, from urban poverty and labor rights to racial terror and inequality. Her work remains as relevant today as it was during her own lifetime. Organized from the collection of the Brooklyn Museum, this exhibition charts the artist’s vision, which spans pathbreaking photojournalism, modernist still lifes, and celebrated portraits of Black Americans.

Consuelo Kanaga: Catch the spirit is organized by the Brooklyn Museum in collaboration with Fundación Mapfre and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition is organized by Drew Sawyer, Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography at the Whitney Museum of American Art (formerly Phillip and Edith Leonian Curator of Photography, Brooklyn Museum) with Imani Williford, curatorial assistant, photography, fashion and material culture, Brooklyn Museum. The San Francisco presentation is curated by Shana Lopes, SFMOMA assistant curator of photography, with Delphine Sims, assistant curator of photography.

Major support for Consuelo Kanaga: Catch the spirit at SFMOMA is provided by the Pritzker Exhibition Fund in Photography. Significant support is provided by the The Black Dog Private Foundation.