Biography
Derek Ronald (b. 1986) is a fine art photographer based between New York City and Washington, D.C. His practice moves through the urban landscape in search of the condition cities share beneath their surfaces: the weight carried by ordinary structures, the tension between what is open and what is closed, what is seen and what watches back. He does not capture the city as it is. He captures it as it feels: suspended, fragile, and temporary.
He is currently scaling his broader urban practice for monograph publication and commercial exhibition.
Derek Ronald exhibits internationally. His recent selections include PH21 Gallery (Barcelona & Budapest), Glasgow Gallery of Photography (Glasgow), The Salmagundi Club (New York), Black Box Gallery (Portland), Praxis Gallery (Minneapolis), American Photographic Artists (Los Angeles), Hill Center Galleries (Washington, D.C.), Decode Gallery (Tucson), The Art League (Alexandria), and Visionary Art Collective (Brooklyn)
He is an Artist Member of The Salmagundi Club.
Artist Statement
I photograph cities the way you listen to a conversation through a wall. Something is happening just past the surface, and the surface itself becomes the subject.
Across cities on several continents, I've found the same condition repeating. Padlocked gates and bricked windows beside plants forcing through concrete. Eyes painted onto crumbling walls. Figures held at distance behind rain and glass. The city withholds and the city watches, and it does this everywhere, to everyone, in every language.
What I'm after is not documentation. It's closer to a recognition: the feeling of standing in front of something ordinary and realizing it has been carrying weight the whole time. I locate where that weight lives.
2026
The Life of Color | Praxis Gallery | Minneapolis, MN
Motion | PH21 Gallery | Barcelona, Spain
Street Photography Awards (Competition Gallery) | LensCulture | Online
Light and Shadow | Black Box Gallery | Portland, OR
Black and White | Praxis Gallery | Minneapolis, MN
Off The Clock | American Photographic Artists | Los Angeles, CA (Guest Juror: Chris Pichler)
Abstract | Glasgow Gallery of Photography | Glasgow, Scotland
May Open Exhibition | The Art League | Alexandria, VA
Color | Decode Gallery | Tucson, AZ
Between Here and Becoming | Visionary Art Collective | Brooklyn, NY
Square | Decode Gallery | Tucson, AZ
Vision: Color Photography (On-Line Annex) |Black Box Gallery | Portland, OR
Composed: Balance, Repetition, Disruption | Praxis Gallery | Minneapolis, MN
Monochrome | Glasgow Gallery of Photography | Glasgow, Scotland
Significant Colour (Honourable Mention) | PH21 Gallery | Barcelona, Spain
Open Theme | Praxis Gallery | Minneapolis, MN (Guest Juror: Ann Jastrab)
Taking Pictures (On-Line Annex) | Black Box Gallery | Portland, OR
Upside Down | PH21 Gallery | Barcelona, Spain
Regional Juried Show | Hill Center Galleries | Washington, DC
Focus: Shadow and Light (On-Line Annex) | Black Box Gallery | Portland, OR
2025
Invitational Summer Exhibition | The Salmagundi Club | New York, NY
Significant Colour | PH21 Gallery | Budapest, Hungary
Blue | Decode Gallery | Tucson, AZ
Square XVII | Decode Gallery | Tucson, AZ
Color | Decode Gallery | Tucson, AZ
May Open Exhibition | The Art League | Alexandria, VA
New Member Exhibition | The Salmagundi Club | New York, NY