Color photography can trace its earliest roots to Anna Atkins' mid-nineteenth century botanical cyanotypes. While camera-less, her adoption of the process has led many to consider her to be the world's first female photographer.

Curator, historian and artist Ellen Carey's latest exhibition "Women in Colour," on display through September at New York City's Rubber Factory gallery, uses Atkins' legacy to trace the lineage of women working with color photography through present day. Hinging on the recent discovery of tetrachromacy, the hypothesis that women are genetically prone to better discern color than men, Carey uses this exhibition to ask how that might impact female photographers' decision to work in color and hopes to gain recognition for their often under-exposed work. I spoke with Ellen Carey to learn more about the ideas behind her research and exhibition.

Interview by Jon Feinstein

In 1925, United States Senator and industrial scion Simon Guggenheim, along with his wife and partner Olga Guggenheim turned a profound personal tragedy into extraordinary opportunity. Two years earlier, their eldest son John died unexpectedly as he prepared to leave home for college. The couple later endowed the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to honor the promise embodied in a life cut short. In the nine decades that have since passed, the Foundation has awarded more than 15,500 fellowships in fields ranging from African Studies to Genetics to Photography.

Announced in April, the twelve photographers in the 2017 cohort join an illustrious group from the past century including Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham, Roy DeCarava, Diane Arbus, Dawoud Bey, Rachel Sussman, Latoya Ruby-Frazier and An-My Le.

Scholarly Exhibition Explores the Pioneering Role of Women Using Color in Photography

The 2017 Guggenheim Photography Fellows: Continuing a Tradition of Greatness