Mara Magyarosi-Laytner (b. 1988) is an artist who pairs multiple experimental lens based methods to explore identity through a symbolic and poetic viewpoint. A graduate of both College for Creative Studies (BFA | Photography, 2012) and Savannah College of Art and Design (MA | Arts Administration, 2016, MFA | Photography, 2022), she is an artist, educator, and curator in the Detroit area.
The artist and her work have been featured internationally, including in exhibitions and festivals in the United States, Canada, Italy, France, and Hungary. Mara's artistic and curatorial projects have been featured in multiple articles and periodicals, including Complex, Lenscratch, Float Magazine, Detroit Metro Times, The Hand Magazine, and Aeonian Magazine. In 2022, her work from The Untended Garden was a Photolucida Critical Mass Finalist. Soon after, Mara's work was chosen in 2023 as one of the Fair Director's Picks in the New York Spring Affordable Art Fair. Her first monograph, The Untended Garden was published by Starling Common Press in February 2024. In 2025, Mara was a Top 10 Finalist in Visual Arts for the CONTAINER Residency in Detroit.
Mara is also an award winning educator, combining her love of photography and her passion for connecting with people of all ages. Whether teaching photography to high school students in her classroom studio as the Digital Photography & Media Instructor at William D. Ford Career Technical Center or examining how to succeed in the art world with her students at College for Creative Studies, her focus is on pushing forward culturally responsive education through art and design. Her educational accolades include being a semifinalist in the 2018 MAPSA Charter School Teacher of the Year awards and the 2019 Inspiring Educator Award through the Southeastern Michigan Region Scholastic Art Awards. Her students have been highlighted and have won multiple high level awards including the National and Regional Scholastic Art Awards, the 12th District Congressional Art Competition, Michigan SkillsUSA Photography Competition, and have been exhibited in the House of Lucie Galleries in Italy, Hungary, Greece, and Thailand, Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Praxis Gallery & Photographic Arts Center, and more.
Outside of her personal work, Mara often plays into her strengths as a cultural strategist to promote the creative class. To support the efforts of innovative and experimental lens based artists, Mara cofounded and is the co-executive director of NOVA24, an international photography + film festival located in Detroit, Michigan. The annual festival launched in July 2024 with over thirty events at eighteen locations throughout the Detroit Metropolitan area. Mara was honored to be selected as a part of the 2025 Class of Oakland County's Oakland Together 40 Under 40, which highlights dynamic leaders who are making a difference in Michigan's Oakland County and beyond.
