Patricia Lanza is currently working as an independent curator and consultant for photography and fine art. She is a regular contributor writing about photographers for the Eye of Photography online magazine (www.oeildelaphotographie.com).
She began her career at the National Geographic Society in Washington DC, learning to develop storytelling and narrative through imagery. Starting as a photo editor working with their vast archive, this position evolved to become a contract photographer, assignments taking her to over fifty-three countries. She is participating in a two-person touring photography show with Lynn Johnson on Vincent van Gogh which opened in 2019 at the Leica Gallery in Beverly Hills and is touring in 2021 and 2022, to SNAP Orlando Florida and the Kennedy Museum in Athens Ohio.
Formerly she was the Director of Talent and Content for the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles from 2009 to 2017. The Annenberg Space for Photography presented the world’s great photographers and filmmakers and garnered many awards. In 2011, the exhibition, Beauty Culture won exhibition of the year, in a field which included major international museum photography shows, and the film directed by Lauren Greenfield was nominated for an Academy award. In 2017, the exhibition Cuba IS was rated number four in the world by Artnet. Lanza executed from concept to installation, all facets of mounting exhibitions; managing collections, hiring staff, developing programming, as well working with major museums and venues around the world to travel shows, and film festival participation.