Jon and Sean Hughes Present a Collection of Photography Spanning 20 Years

Jon Hughes made his first trip to Cuba in 1984 and the most recent in 2004. His 20-year body of work shows a country in constant change. Hughes is pleased with the retrospective of his Cuba images since 1985.

“More importantly,” says Hughes, “it is with my son Sean, a UC graduate (McMicken A&S, sociology, 1992).” Sean Hughes is the art director for CityBeat magazine. Together the Hugheses co-founded photopresse, an international photo agency.

Following in his father’s footsteps was not automatic for the younger Hughes.

"Like all good teenage sons, I wanted to avoid photography like the plague,” says Sean. He came to the University of Cincinnati but didn’t study photography. “I declared sociology after two years.”

Sean Hughes did catch the photobug, however, and ended up earning a master's degree in photojournalism from Ball State University, in Muncie, Ind.

However, Jon and Sean’s paths still diverged. While Jon Hughes works primarily on film in black and white, Sean works primarily in color and mostly with digital cameras now. (The ArtWorks exhibit is all film based.) Besides the art of taking the actual photograph, their choices of medium continue to take them down two different paths. While it is difficult to top Jon Hughes’ skill in the darkroom, Sean works mostly in graphic design now. 

They share an important talent, however. The late Henri Cartier-Bresson, photographer and artist, said, “In order to ‘give a meaning’ to the world, one has to feel involved in what one frames through the viewfinder.” Both Hugheses help give meaning to the world of what is — and was — Cuba. 

The exhibit will be at ArtWorks from April 1 through April 29, with the opening reception on April 1, 6–9 p.m.

ArtWorks Gallery

PhotoPresse