CREATIVE IMMERSION ’04 with Mimi Plumb, Carolyn Drake & Gregory Harris
BOWEN ISLAND, OCTOBER 1-3, 2026
DESCRIPTION
Seven years after the inaugural “FOTOFILMIC CREATIVE IMMERSION” Retreat on Bowen Island back in the fall of 2019, we are thrilled to finally offer a second home base edition of our popular 3-day intensive work review program at the start of October!
Creative Immersion Retreats aim at offering a small group of photographers the opportunity to receive multiple-focus, in-depth review time of their work and practice at large in a longer format than typical portfolio reviews that can encourage sustained conversation and activate practical solutions to creative blocks. Headed by highly recognized practitioners and influential shapers of contemporary photographic culture, Creative Immersion retreats also provides participants with grounding elements of community, connection, belonging, and visibility, while lending their work a generous, safe and open gallery context for meaningful, collegial examination and reinvention.
Leading this 4th program edition are acclaimed artists Mimi Plumb and Carolyn Drake, both West Coast photographers, recipients of the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship and authors of many highly sought-after books, and Atlanta-based High Museum of Art Photography Curator Gregory Harris, who successfully mounted over a dozen groundbreaking exhibitions there over the past decade. Each of these mentors will offer the attending group tailored morning presentations focused on their distinct creative tracks and achievements, and on sharing their invaluable experience navigating the increasingly complex realities of building successful artistic practices today. All three mentors will then lend their sharp intercrossing lenses to the participants’ work during three afternoon-long review sessions. During these, each participant will receive a full hour review with the three mentors and the group, as well as individual studio/wall/table space where to lay out in full their current project/portfolio and edit/reflect feedback in real time. In the early evening and morning time, participants will get the chance to wander along Bowen Island’s countless scenic trails, breathe in its serene natural landscape, and experience our small community’s genuine friendliness and caring spirit (Bowen is among Canada’s safest!).
Participants will leave with a renewed sense of confidence in their work and in its potential for further dissemination, strengthened ties with both talented peers and important, caring mentors, and a refined understanding of their overall position as photographers making sense of our tense, current moment.
CREATIVE IMMERSION ’04
FOTOFILMIC SPACE
BOWEN ISLAND
10.1–3, 2026
* * APPLICATIONS ARE CLOSED * *
Mimi Plumb, "Richard", 1986.
Mimi Plumb, "Treasure Island", 2020.
Mimi Plumb, "Girl in Polka Dot Dress", 1990.
"Truth Told Slant: Contemporary Photography", High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 2024. Curated by Gregory Harris.
"Blazing Lights: Photographs by Mimi Plumb", High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 2026. Curated by Gregory Harris.
"Kelli Connell: Pictures for Charis", High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 2025. Curated by Gregory Harris.
Carolyn Drake. From the book "Men Untitled" (TBW 2023)
Carolyn Drake. From the book "Men Untitled" (TBW 2023)
Carolyn Drake. From the book "Men Untitled" (TBW 2023)
MENTORS
MIMI PLUMB
Mimi Plumb is a California photographer whose work examines the landscapes, people, and shifting social realities of the American West. A 2022 Guggenheim Fellow, she is the author of six monographs, including Mimi Plumb: Blazing Light, Landfall, The White Sky, The Golden City, Megalith-Still, and The Reservoir. Her photographs are held in collections such as SFMOMA, LACMA, the High Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. The first major solo exhibition of Plumb’s work is currently on view at the High Museum of Art and will travel to three additional museums through 2027.
CAROLYN DRAKE
Carolyn Drake works on long term photo-based projects seeking to interrogate dominant historical narratives and creatively reimagine them. She is interested in collapsing the traditional divide between author and subject, the real and the imaginary, challenging entrenched binaries. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship, a Fulbright fellowship in Ukraine, and the Henri Cartier Bresson Award, among other honors. Drake’s work is held in the permanent collections of SFMOMA, the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, the High Museum in Atlanta, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. She is represented by Magnum Photos and Yancey Richardson Gallery and is based in Vallejo, California.
