Insider Gaze: Ella Fontanals-Cisneros on Photography
Tuesday, 09/22/2026-, 10:00 am-12:00 pm
RSVP / Register
Cost: 150
Join us for an intimate conversation on photography, collecting, and the ideas and relationships that shape meaningful collections.
What draws a collector to a photograph? How does a collection develop its own point of view? And what can we learn from the collector’s perspective?
Join renowned collector and philanthropist Ella Fontanals-Cisneros for an intimate online conversation exploring photography through the eyes of one of the leading figures in collecting art from Latin America.
Drawing from decades of experience, Fontanals-Cisneros will share firsthand insights into the decisions, relationships, discoveries, and opportunities that shape a collection over time. The conversation will explore how collectors encounter and engage with artists’ work, what informs the decision to acquire a photograph, how a collection develops its identity, and how collecting can help expand art-historical narratives.
Participants will have the opportunity to ask Ella Fontanals-Cisneros questions directly during a live Q&A.
Whether you are an artist curious about how collectors encounter photographic work, considering your first acquisition, an experienced collector, or a curator, educator, student, or arts professional, this session offers a rare opportunity to hear directly from an influential collector.
Presented by the WOPHA Institute as part of the online course Collecting Photography Beyond the Canon.
Open to everyone. This session can be purchased individually; enrollment in the full course is not required.
Guest Speaker
Ella Fontanals-Cisneros is a philanthropist, entrepreneur, and businesswoman in new technologies and other industries, as well as a collector of contemporary art since the 1970s. Her collection has an international profile with emblematic figures of modern and contemporary art, with a focus on Latin America, and today comprises more than 2,700 works across four core areas: Latin American geometric abstraction, contemporary international and Latin American art, contemporary video, and modern and contemporary photography.
In 2002, she established and presided over the non-profit Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO), a platform supporting emerging, mid-career, and established Latin American artists through its Grants & Commissions Program, Collection, and Traveling Exhibitions Program. Since its founding, CIFO has awarded more than $2.5 million to over 170 artists.
Fontanals-Cisneros has served on the boards of the Tate Americas Foundation, the ICA Miami, and the New Museum, among others. She remains CIFO’s Honorary President and an active collector.
