RIVER TO RICHARDS
DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY IN HAWAIʻI 2025
Presented by Avalon Group, LLC
With Juror PF Bentley
ON VIEW NOVEMBER 2025 AT DOWNTOWN ART CENTER
Central Honolulu, from River Street in the west to Richards Street in the east and between Vineyard Boulevard and Aloha Tower, has been at the center of dramatic urban and cultural change, decade after tumultuous decade, since the early 1800s.
The area is home to the original port of Honolulu and has witnessed the arrival of foreign whaling ships, European explorers, and American missionaries. Asian and Iberian laborers destined for the sugarcane and pineapple plantations followed. Before the advent of air travel, Boat Days welcomed thousands of tourists each year as they disembarked from steamships and luxury ocean liners. Businesses in the area catered to residents and visitors alike, and it was a bustling commercial district, until large swaths were turned to ash in the Great Chinatown Fire of 1900.
The war years saw the rebuilt area boom with sailors, soldiers, and Marines jamming cafes, tattoo parlors, and bordellos. Statehood brought an internationally focused financial district and high-rises that replaced cramped apartments above ground-floor stores. Today, the urbanization trend is gathering momentum once again as downtown Honolulu adjusts to a decade without an anchor department store and high vacancy rates in commercial buildings, due in part to pandemic-related work-from-home policies.
River to Richards is a juried documentary photography exhibition seeking imagery that explores how the past informs the present—and how both offer glimpses into the future of how we might live, work, and play in this dynamic and resilient district.
Juror PF Bentley, an award-winning American photojournalist whose distinguished career includes 20 years as a photojournalist and Special Correspondent for TIME Magazine, will select the images for the exhibition. PF has also been a Contributing Photographer to Hana Hou!, Hawaiian Airlines’ magazine, for the past 10 years.
Writer and photographer Floyd Takeuchi conceived this exhibition, and photographer Shane Sakata is the Exhibition Coordinator.
Downtown Art Center is pleased to present the second Documentary Photography in Hawai‘i exhibition, this November 2025. Featuring a juried selection of documentary images from Hawai‘i photographers displayed alongside a selection of vintage photos focusing on the geographic area from River Street to Richards Street, the exhibition celebrates the past and the present of Honolulu’s urban core. This vibrant area is DAC’s home, and this juried exhibition supports our efforts to create a thriving and vibrant Downtown/Chinatown through the power of creativity and the arts.
Photograph courtesy PF Bentley
2025 Juror’s Statement
“Documentary photography is important because it acts as an essential tool for
preserving history, creating a visual record of events and cultures for future generations.
It is also crucial for promoting social change, as it gives a voice to marginalized
communities, raises awareness about critical issues, and encourages empathy and
understanding by exposing viewers to different realities.
When I was invited to jury this exhibition, I knew it would be both exciting and difficult.
What I didn’t expect was just how moving it would be to see the range of work
submitted. Each photograph was a story, a voice, an offering—and choosing only a
small number from so many strong submissions was the hardest part of the process.
I approached jurying with a few guiding principles. Yes, I looked for technical
craft—composition, use of light, clarity—but I was equally drawn to something harder to
define: images that felt alive, images that carried honesty, emotion, or a perspective that
could only belong to that photographer. Documentary work at its best doesn’t just show
us what happened; it lets us feel it, question it, and carry it with us.
To the photographers who submitted: thank you. Your work made this process
rewarding and also extremely difficult. Please know that your efforts matter, and your
voices matter. This show is stronger because of the community of artists who were
willing to put their vision forward.
Documentary photography is about connection—between the photographer and
subject, between the image and the viewer. My hope is that as you move through this
exhibition, you feel that same spark of recognition and curiosity that I felt while jurying.
It has been an honor to help shape this show, and I am grateful to every photographer
who trusted us with their work.”
Exhibition Jurying Results
Congratulations to the following photographers whose series and single photography work have been accepted into the show! Out of 280 single images and 23 series submissions,
SERIES PHOTOGRAPHY:
STAND-ALONE IMAGES:
A warm mahalo to our sponsors!
Exhibition Sponsor
What is documentary photography?
Documentary photography describes any photos that attempt to record the world from the photographer's viewpoint. It is used to chronicle events, people, and places that are significant and relevant to history, as well as everyday life in the moment it is recorded. It can focus on an ongoing issue or story seen through a photograph or series of photographs.
Mahalo to Pacific New Media for its support of this exhibition.
Cover and Call to Artists flyer image: “Primary Colors” by Anthony Consillio, from PNM’s “Contemporary Photography in Hawaiʻi 2024” exhibition.
For any questions, please contact documentaryphotography@downtownarthi.org.