Tova Katzman is a photo and video artist and visual storyteller from Massachusetts based in Texas after recieving her MFA from The University of Texas at Austin. Her work stems from human geography, loss, the built environment and embodied research around bodies of water. In 2017, she was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to pursue an art and research project about the intersection of daily life and the Panama Canal. She remained based in Panama for six years working as a freelance photographer/videographer, curator and educator as well as the co-founder of La Junta Colectiva, a collective for women photographers working in Panama.
📍 Brownsville, TX
open to assignments // collaborations // conversations
~archival inkjet prints+artist made frames available~
tovakatzman.studio@gmail.com
Education
The University of Texas at Austin
Master of Fine Arts, May 2025
Photo and Media
Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston
Bachelor of Fine Arts, May 2015
Photography Major
University of Barcelona, Spain, 2014
Exchange
Awards/Residencies
Planet Texas 2050 Research Award, The University of Texas at Austin, 2025-2026
Professional Development Travel Fund Award, The University of Texas at Austin, 2025
Russell Lee Endowed Presidential Scholarship in Photography, The University of Texas at Austin, 2024-2025
William and Bettye Nowlin Endowed Presidential Fellowship, The University of Texas at Austin, 2023-2024
Salón Nacional de Artistas, Estudio Nuboso in Bocas de Ceniza, Barranquilla, Colombia, 2022
Fulbright Art and Research Fellowship, Panama, 2017-18
Paul Tsongas Scholarship Recipient, 2011-2015
MassArt Photography Foundation Award, 2015
Solo Exhibitions
The Bittersweet Life of Mr. Brown, The Panama Canal Museum, Panama City, Panama, 2026 (forthcoming)
Si caigo en el Canal, nada, nado, Papaya Planet Art Space, Panama City, Panama, 2018
Selected Group Exhibitions
Words for Love, Northern-Southern Gallery, Austin, TX, 2025
Acceleration without Arrival, MFA Thesis Show, Visual Arts Center, UT Austin, TX, 2025
Cúmulus: Ten Years of Estudio Nuboso, Museum of Contemporary Art in Panama, Panama City, Panama, 2025
The Buoyancy Show, Lemp Brewery Complex, St.Louis, MO, 2023
Remembered Technologies, TEOR/ética, San Jose, Costa Rica, 2023
SUELO: Bocas de Cenizas, Salón Nacional de Artistas, Barranquilla, Colombia, 2022
What Calls Us: Identity and Territory in Panama, US Embassy in Panama, La Cinta Costera, Panama, 2022
El Pasado Adelante, Spanish Cultural Center, Panama, 2022
Annual Auction, Museum of Contemporary Art, Panama 2020, 2021, 2022
Un Mundo Mejor, Allegro Gallery, Panama, 2021
Water is Life, Díptico Gallery, Panama, 2021
Generación Igualdad, French Embassy, Panama, 2021
Quicken the Heart, Grid Gallery, Panama, 2020
Art and Science Lab, Ibero-America Design Biennial, Madrid, Spain, 2018
All Visual Boston, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA, 2015
Islands on the Edge, Atlantic Wharf Gallery, Boston, 2015
Below the Sky, Above the Clouds, Piano Craft Gallery, Boston, MA, 2015
30 Under 30, Featherstone Center for the Arts, Oak Bluffs, MA, 2015
Back to Dark Silver Gelatin Show, MassArt, Boston, MA, 2015
On Photography, Hynes Convention Center, Boston, MA, 2015
Curation
What Calls Us: Identity and Territory in Panama sponsored by The US Embassy in Panama, La Cinta Costera, Panama City, Panama, 2022
Hasta Aqui Era Agua, Diablo Rosso Gallery, Panama, 2021
La Espera, Grid Gallery, Panama, 2021
Between Shores: A Show on Water, Student Life Gallery, Massart, Boston, MA, 2015
Talks/Workshops
De la semilla, el gesto, round table discussion with artists in Estudio Nuboso, Museum of Contemporary Art in Panama, 2025
Film Screening and Artist Talk, Flower Shop Art Space, Brownsville, TX, 2024
Artist Talk, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Brownsville, TX, 2024
At the Table: Empathy, Community, and Collaboration, guest critic, MassArt MFA program, 2024
Art in Dialogue With 100 Years of Tropical Science, Berlin Science Week, 2023
Live Radio Table, Salón Nacional de Artistas, Barranquilla, Colombia, 2022
Reading Images Under the Surface, workshop, Museum of Contemporary Art in Panama, 2022
Art in Public Spaces, public conversation, Museum of Contemporary Art in Panama, 2022
Developing a photography project, virtual workshop, La Junta Colectiva, 2022
Hasta Aquí Era Agua, guided exhibition visit, Diablo Rosso, Panama, 2021
Photography workshops, Panamanian Institute for Labor Studies, Panama, 2021
Conversation with Paula Kupfer, La Junta Colectiva, IG live, 2021
Alumni Career Panel, virtual talk, Massachusetts College of Art, 2021
Public Artist Talk, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama, 2019
Three Generations: A conversation with Sandra Eleta, Rose Marie Cromwell and Tova Katzman, Spanish Cultural Center, Panama 2019
Leer imágenes, photography workshop, FundAHrte, Panama, 2019
Contemporary Photography, Panelist, Museum of Contemporary Art in Panama, 2018
Work Experience
Mentor, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, REU Art and Science Award Summer Program, Brownsville, TX, 2024, 2025
Teaching Assistant, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 2023-2025
Assistant/Translator/Video Editor, Sharon Harper, Harvard University, Chile, Puerto Rico, Mexico, 2018-2023
Videographer, Brick City TV, Murder at Sea documentary, 2023
Photographer/Videographer/Facilitator, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute x Estudio Nuboso, BCI100 LAB, Panama, 2023
Pre-production Stills Photographer, Querido Tropical directed by Ana Endara, Panama, 2023
Photographer/Videographer, Rights+Resources, Women in Global South Alliance, Panama, 2023
Videographer/Producer, Human Rights Campaign + PFLAG Panama, faith and inclusion, 2023
Photographer/Videographer, HIAS, Migration in Darien, Panama, 2022
Videographer, United Nations Human Rights Office, Pride March ft. Trans Assembly, Panama 2022
Videographer/Editor, CIEPS, short documentary on adolescent pregnancy in Panama, 2022
Video Editor, Edwina Von Gal, Bacourou Drua Darien Project, 2022
Project Coordinator, La Junta Colectiva with The US Embassy in Panama, What Calls Us, Photography exhibition and public program, 2022
Photography/Studio Assistant, Rose Marie Cromwell, Panama/Miami, 2019-2022
Videographer/Producer, United Nations Human Rights Office, Trans Solidarity Network, Panama, 2020
Photographer/Videographer, Concolon Magazine, 2019-2022
Stills Photographer/Second Videographer, La Selva Llama documentary, Panama, 2019-2020
Videographer, United Nations Refugee Agency, Video Dance Project, Panama, 2019
Assistant Director of Photography, Mestizo Cinema, Negre Macha, Panama, 2019
Production Assistant, Fresh TV, Upworthy Ancestry MiniDoc, Massachusetts, 2019
Photographer, Festival de la Memoria, Panama, 2019
Photographer, Estudio Nuboso, Art and Science Lab, Panama, 2015, 2017, 2019
Photography/Research Assistant, Katherine Zien, Panama, 2019
Studio Assistant, Sandra Eleta, Panama, 2019-2022
Photography Assistant, Jordi Ruiz Cirera, Panama, 2018
Videographer, Espacio Creativo, Crush Dance Project, Panama City, 2018
Photography Assistant, Dina Litovsky, Massachusetts, 2017
Photo Intern, Peabody Essex Museum, Massachusetts, 2015
Teaching Assistant, Irina Rozovsky, Massart, 2015
Selected Publications
The New York Times, The Panama Canal Has a Big Problem, but It’s Not China or Trump, Photo, 2025
Grist Magazine, The Panama Canal needs more water. The solution could displace thousands., 2024
Outside Magazine, More than a Game, exposure portfolio, 2022 (May/June issue)
Puerto Rico Center of Investigative Journalism, Pineapple Country, Photo/video, 2022
Concolon Magazine, The Double Exhile of Alejandrina, Photo, 2022
Bloomberg Green, Meet Six People Fighting Water Scarcity Across the Globe, Photo, 2021
Land of Resistants/Mongabay, Pedro González, S.A, Photo/Video, 2021
United Nations Human Rights Office, Trans Solidarity Network, Video, 2020
Press
La Estrella de Panamá, Una mirada de Panamá bajo el lente de La Junta Colectiva, 2022
La Ruta Del Metro, video interview, 2021
Aviary Gallery, online exhibition, 2020
Estudio Nuboso, Artist in Focus, 2019
La Estrella de Panamá, Tres generaciones de fotógrafas, 2018
Don-Dean blog, interview, 2016
Phases Magazine, feature, 2016
Paper-Journal, featured article, 2016
Aint-Bad Magazine, editorial feature, 2015
Collectives
La Junta Colectiva, founding member since 2020
Women Photograph, member since 2019
Estudio Nuboso, member since 2015