Mixed Doubles

A Portrait of Connection at The Do Good Fund

By Monica Jones

There’s something powerful about walking into a gallery and realizing you might be part of what hangs on the walls. So this March, The Do Good Fund isn’t just presenting an exhibition — it’s inviting Columbus to step into it.

From March 3–11, The Do Good Fund Gallery will transform into a portrait studio for Mixed Doubles, an ongoing photographic series by New York-based photographer Teri Slotkin. Instead of polished openings and quiet observation, the space will hum with conversation, laughter, and the subtle nervous energy of people sitting down to be seen — together.

The concept is simple and surprisingly moving: portraits of pairs.

In this case, “pairs” does not just mean couples in the traditional sense, but any two people connected by a meaningful relationship. Student and teacher. Coworkers who survived a tough season together. A runner and the friend who kept them accountable. A barista and a regular who know each other’s order by heart. Grandparent and grandchild. Coach and player. Neighbors who became chosen family.

Portrait sessions are free, open to all ages, and require zero experience in front of a camera. Each pair will receive a complimentary copy of their portrait, and the images will later be exhibited inside The Do Good Fund Gallery.

The Do Good Fund has built its reputation around accessible, community-centered photography. Its exhibitions regularly spotlight powerful documentary work and contemporary photography that connects local audiences to national conversations. With Mixed Doubles, the gallery turns the lens back toward Columbus itself.

Slotkin, whose career spans more than five decades, is no stranger to socially engaged art. A graduate of Douglass College at Rutgers and NYU, she served as a staff photographer at Goldman Sachs and was a founding member of Collaborative Projects (Colab), an influential artist collective. Her work intersects artistic experimentation and human connection — and people remain her primary subject.

But Mixed Doubles isn’t about technical perfection or dramatic lighting. It’s about the space between two people.

“Mixed Doubles began as a way to slow down and pay attention to how people show up for one another,” Slotkin has said. “Each pair brings their own history into the frame.”

That history doesn’t have to be dramatic. Sometimes it’s built in small, daily exchanges. The teacher who stayed late or the coworker who covered your shift. The neighbor who checked on you during a storm. The friend who listened when things fell apart.

Columbus is a relational city. We tend to build through conversation. Through collaboration. Through showing up.

What makes this iteration of Mixed Doubles especially compelling is the setting itself. The Do Good Fund has long positioned photography not as something distant or elite, but as something lived and accessible. The gallery’s mission centers on collecting and exhibiting photography that reflects the American South while inviting audiences into meaningful dialogue. By converting the gallery into an active studio, the organization quite literally blurs the line between observer and participant.

Instead of standing a polite distance from the artwork, Columbus residents will be part of it.

There’s vulnerability in that. Sitting for a portrait — especially beside someone who matters to you — requires a certain openness. You can’t hide behind your phone. You can’t edit the moment afterward. You show up as you are, in relation to another person.

That relational element is what elevates this beyond a typical community photo project. Slotkin is documenting bonds, not simply photographing faces. It’s the way two people lean slightly toward one another. The subtle mirroring of posture. The unspoken shorthand that develops between people who have shared time.

And later, when those portraits line the gallery walls, viewers won’t just see individual stories — they’ll see a collective portrait of Columbus itself. A mosaic of partnerships which reveal what sustains this city: mentorship, friendship, loyalty, collaboration, care.

For participants, the experience may last only a short session in front of the camera. For the community, the impact lingers longer. These images become artifacts — reminders of who stood beside us at a particular moment in time. In a world obsessed with curated perfection, Mixed Doubles offers something more honest. 

Bringing Mixed Doubles here happened through a personal connection with Columbus native Florence Neal, founder of Kentler International Drawing Space in Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood. With support from a Columbus Cultural Arts Alliance grant and Visit Columbus GA, the project expands beyond exhibition into participation — removing barriers and inviting the public directly into the creative process. At a time when so many cultural conversations revolve around division, speed, and digital distance, Mixed Doubles offers something almost radical: a pause.

The exhibition opens with a reception and artist presentation on Saturday, March 21, from 5–7 p.m. at The Do Good Fund Gallery, located at 111 12th Street, Suite 103. The gallery is open Wednesday through Friday from 1–5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m.–3 p.m.

If you’ve ever wanted a portrait that feels less like a headshot and more like a record of who stood beside you, this is your invitation.

Columbus, step into the frame.