FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wichita, Kansas – 07/14/2026

WAM is excited to present a new exhibition, David Hornback: Where the Hell is Wichita? Hornback has showcased his black-and-white photography of Wichita all over the world. Although the artist has exhibited internationally for decades, this is the first time his work has been on view at the Wichita Art Museum.

The artist was asked of his hometown, “Where the hell is Wichita?” in a Berlin bar in 2000. The answer—in the form of this exhibition—has since traveled to galleries in Germany, Italy, and Spain. Now Hornback—a Wichita native—is bringing those photos home, and WAM is delighted to tell this unique local story. Featuring more than 250 works, the exhibition is on view July 25 through December 12, 2026. WAM curator Dr. Tera Lee Hedrick, is available at WAM for media tours upon request.

Hornback began his interest in photography at Wichita High School East and has gone on to have commercial and critical success as a photographer globally. Where the Hell is Wichita? features photographs he took in high school—the earliest images of the artist’s award-winning career. (Hornback found the negatives in his childhood College Hill home on a family visit.) These photos will spark conversations and memories of Wichita’s schools, neighborhoods, and people.

The photographs feature the artist’s friends, classmates, teachers, and coaches in the hallways, classrooms, locker rooms, and campus of East High taken in the late 1970s. He captures the texture of the mundane: girls twirling their gum, boys horsing around after class, a friend being consoled. These in-between moments, frozen in time, are authentic and spontaneous.

The exhibition also features photographs of Hornback’s family life, memories of his teenage years in Wichita. Half a century after they were initially caught on camera, some of his relatives exist today only in memories and on film. He said of his family, “They live on [in the photographs]. You can still see and feel them. My older sister Anne before the mirror, before a date. Mom in the kitchen, with the late afternoon sunlight, talking to me about quilt-making. Dad coming home from Cessna and falling asleep in front of the TV. Patrick and Liz, forever playing in the house and in the yard … We have all split into two.”

Hornback’s artistic career took him from Wichita to major cities around the U.S. and the world. After high school, he studied photojournalism at the University of Kansas. He then worked for various newspapers and magazines, including National Geographic World, Reuters, Siemens, and the San Jose Mercury News where he and his team won a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. That same year he recorded the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Exhibition Details
David Hornback: Where the Hell is Wichita?
July 25, 2026 – December 12, 2026
Wichita Art Museum
FREE for all

Exhibition Credit
David Hornback: Where the Hell is Wichita? is organized by the Wichita Art Museum with the artist. 2026 exhibitions and public programs are generously supported by the Downing Foundation. All museum exhibitions receive generous support from the Friends of the Wichita Art Museum and the City of Wichita.

Distinguished Sponsor
The Trust Company of Kansas

Supporting Sponsors
Mary Eves
Rigby Carey
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For more information about the exhibition and events: wam.org/DavidHornback

Contact: Naama Marcos, Director of Marketing and Communications | marcos@wam.org| 316-268-4985
Wichita Art Museum: 1400 West Museum Boulevard, Wichita, Kansas USA 67203 | 316-268-4921

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