Geoff Winningham exhibit showcasing work of famed Texas photographer opens at The Wittliff

The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University has opened Discoveries: Photographs by Geoff Winningham, Texas and Mexico 1970-2024. The exhibition is on view through July 3, 2026.

With a career spanning more than 50 years, Geoff Winningham has become one of Texas’ most important photographers. This exhibition features more than 200 of his images from Texas and Mexico, drawing upon the full range of his work, for which he has received two Guggenheim fellowships, five NEA grants and produced 15 photography books.

The photographs are grouped thematically and chronologically, beginning with his early seminal black-and-white work on Wrestling in the Houston Coliseum (1971); Texas (1970-76); the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (1972); and High School Football in Texas (1975-78). “Queen for a Day” (1985), a photo essay featured in Texas Monthly, and photogravures from his Buffalo Bayou (1981-2001) series are also presented. Winningham’s color photographs are prominently featured with his mirthful views of Houston (1984-1986), images from the Gulf Coast of Texas and Mexico (2003-2008), and his fascination with the culture of Mexico (1981-2024)—most notably the fiestas held throughout the country.

Winningham produced and collaborated on three films during his career. He documented wrestling, “Friday Night in the Coliseum” (1972); the tenth anniversary of the Astrodome, “The Pleasures of This Stately Dome” (1976) and Texas high school football, “In Our Fathers’ Sweetest Dreams” (1982). Short clips of each film are on view.

Winningham was born in Jackson, Tenn., in 1943. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Rice University and a master’s degree in photography from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology, where he studied with Aaron Siskind and Arthur Siegel. He returned to Houston in 1968 to begin a career in photography, documentary filmmaking and journalism, joining the department of fine arts at Rice University in 1969, where he continues to teach, holding the Lynette S. Autrey Chair in the Humanities.