Linda Foard Roberts’ work is deeply personal, rooted in memory, family and local histories, combined with philosophical inquiries about life, death, and basic human rights. Using 8" x 10" and 5" x 7" cameras and preferring the imperfections of old lenses and the history that is untold within them, her work is metaphorical and layered, intending to cross language and cultural barriers.
In 2020 Roberts received a Guggenheim Fellowship in Photography. In 2016 Roberts completed her first monograph, PASSAGE, published by Radius Books, debuting at Paris Photo with signings at AIPAD in New York and Hauser and Wirth. In 2017 she was the honored guest speaker at the Visionary Women's presentation which historically inspires and supports strong women.
Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States and internationally including Australia, Guatemala, Argentina, and Germany. She is represented by SOCO Gallery in Charlotte, North Carolina and Sol del RIO in Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Roberts lives and works in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Selected Honors, Awards, and Publications
2020
Guggenheim Fellowship in Photography.
2017
Honored Visionary Women Guest Speaker. Presented by Wells Fargo Private Bank, The Mint Museum and Queens University. Presentation, interview led by Chandra Johnson, SOCO Gallery. The Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC.
2016
Passage, monograph, published by Radius Books: essays by Russell Lord, Freeman Family Curator of Photographs, New Orleans Museum of Art; Deborah Willis, PH.D, New York University, Tisch School of the Arts; and poem by Billy Collins, Poet Laureate of the United States (2001-2003). Printed by Editoriale Bortolazzi-Stei, Verona, Italy. Photo District News and Photo Eye reviews.
2010
Best of 2010, BW Gallerist, Black and White Fine Art Photography. Julia Margaret Cameron Award, Fine Art Second Place, juried by Mary Ellen Mark. Publication, Julia Cameron Award.
2008
North Carolina Visual Artist Fellowship Grant.
Selected Solo and Group Exhibitions and Book Signings
2022
Responsibilities of Representing, a survey of Roberts photographs, curated by Jen Sudul Edwards, Ph.D. The Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina.
2021
LAMENT, a song of sorrow, for those not heard. An exhibition of Roberts photographs paired with Hank Willis Thomas, Love Rules in an adjoining room.
RE-VISIONES III, Sol del Rio Gallery, Guatemala City, Guatemala. Nine artists from all over the world address humanity in their work.
2020
W|ALLS: Defend, Divide, and the Divine, Group Exhibition, co-curated by Katie Hollander and Jen Sudul Edwards, Ph.D. (organized by the Annenberg Space for Photography) The Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina.
Responsibilities of Representing, a survey of Roberts photographs, curated by Jen Sudul Edwards, Ph.D. The Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina.
2019
WALLS: Defend, Divide, and the Divine: Border Myths: Deconstructing our Southern Frontiers Panel, The Annenberg Space for Photography, with curator Jen Sudul Edwards, Ph.D., Deborah Willis, Ph.D., and Tony de los Reyes. Los Angeles, California.
WALLS: Defend, Divide, and the Divine, Group Exhibition, co-curated by Katie Hollander and Jen Sudul Edwards, Ph.D. Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles, California.
Closets: Reimagining Identities while Embracing Memories, Group Exhibition, Curated by Deborah Willis, Ph.D New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, New York, New York.
Moss Art Center, ARBOREAL, Group Exhibition, curated by Margo A. Crutchfield, Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, Virginia. Gallery talk. Yuken Teruya, Elizabeth Bradford, Diane Cook and Len Jenshel, Ori Gersht, Sam Krisch, Rosemary Laing, Jason Middlebrook, Tom Nakashima, Roxy Paine, Quayola, Linda Foard Roberts, Eric Serritella, and Claire Sherman.
2018
Lecture and Panel with Develar y Detonar artists Ana Casas Broda, Maya Goded, Roberto Tondopo, and Suzanne Festscher, Scott Gardner, The Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC.
Wrestling the Angel, Group Exhibition and panel, The Bechtler Museum of Art, NC, Andy Warhol, Marc Chagall, Georges Rouault, Jean Tinguely, and more, Charlotte, NC.
The Mint Museum Permanent Collection Exhibition, four 8 foot trees from Grounded.
2017
Show & Tell, Gregg Museum of Art and Design Raleigh, NC.
Passage, Gallery Talk, SOCO Gallery, Charlotte, NC.
Passage, Solo Exhibition, SOCO Gallery, Charlotte NC.
Panorama: North Carolina, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh NC.
A Place and Time, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA.
Passage, Book Signings:
National Society for Photographic Education, DAP, Orlando, FL.
Association of International Photography Art Dealers, New York, NY.
Hauser and Wirth, New York, NY.
SOCO Gallery, Charlotte, NC.
Radius Books, Artist Weekend, Santa Fe, NM.
Passage, Reviews:
Photo District News, David Walker
Photo Eye, David Ondrik
2016
Paris Photo, Grand Palais, Book Signing Launch for Passage, Paris, France.
Berlin Foto Biennale 2016, Palazzo Italia, Berlin, Germany.
PDN, Photo of the Day
Keeping Watch, Environmental Exhibition with Andrea Polli, Betndnaut Smilde, Jed Berk, and Robert Wiens. Projective Eye Gallery, Charlotte, NC.
Here and Now: 80 Years of Photography at the Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC.
The Energy of Youth: Depicting Childhood, Exhibition with Sally Mann, David Spear, Margaret Sartor, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Erwin Olaf, North Carolina Museum, Raleigh, NC.
Actual Size, exploring the photographic contact print, Cassilhaus Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC
Kindred, Exhibition with Sally Mann, David Hilliard, Raymond Grubb, Brittney Little, Carolyn DeMeritt, SOCO Gallery, Charlotte, NC.
2014
United, Babson Capital, Charlotte, NC.
Passage, Solo Exhibition, Mobil, AL.
2013
Passage, Artist Lecture, Society for Photographic Education, Regional, Charlotte, NC.
Mad Hatters to Pixel Pushers, Projective Eye Gallery, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.
Close to Home, North Carolina Museum, Raleigh, NC.
New Works from the Permanent Collection,The Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC
2012
Julia Margaret Cameron Award Exhibition, Palais de Glace, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Simple Truths, Solo Exhibition, McMaster Gallery, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC.
Davidson College Collects, Van Every/Smith Galleries, Davidson College, Davidson, NC.
Dreaming Identities, Curated by Deborah Willis, Ph.D, with Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, Sheila Pree Bright, Delphine Fawundu-Buford, Carla Williams, Lynn Marshall-Linnemeier, Susan kae Grant, Nashormeh Lindo, Cheryl Younger, and Susan Ross. Arnika Dawkins Gallery, Atlanta, GA.
The National Democratic Headquarters, Charlotte, NC.
2011
Surroundings: Photography x 4, Exhibition and Lecture, with Alice Sebrell, Sonia Handelman Meyer, and Ida Wyman. Hodges Taylor, Charlotte, NC.
Mirror Image, Art Panel Discussion, The North Carolina Museum, Raleigh, NC.
2010
Shootn' Southern: Women Photographers, Past and Present. Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL.
North Carolina Fellowship Exhibition, Lecture, Green Hill Center for the Arts, Greensboro, NC.
The Family, Foto 30, Sol del Rio Gallery, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
2009
Robert Koch Gallery, Exhibition with Jerry Burchard and Debbie Fleming Caffery, San Francisco, CA.
Passage/Boundaries, Solo exhibition, Sol del Rio Gallery, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
2008
Telling Our Stories, Exhibition organized by the North Carolina Museum of Art. (Traveled to 34 venues throughout NC.)
Facing South, Greenhill Center, Greensboro, NC.
Honoring the Earth, Blue Spiral Gallery, Asheville, NC.
Artist Forum Lecture, The Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC.
Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2007
Esteeming the Pearls, Exhibition and Lecture with Luis Gonzalez Palma, The Light Factory, Charlotte, NC.
Selected Museum Collections
Bechtler Museum of Modern Art
Center for Creative Photography
The Columbus Museum
Davidson College Van Every/Smith Galleries
Gregg Museum of Art and Design
Harry Ransom Center
Mint Museum of Art
Museum of Photographic Arts San Diego
New Orleans Museum of Art
Norton Museum of Art
North Carolina Museum of Art
The Ogden Museum of Southern Art.
Selected Corporate Collections
Bank of America, Duke Energy, Fidelity Bank, Haarmann & Reimer- Germany, King & Spalding, and The Ritz Carleton.