Rhapsodic Figures

By Suzanne Révy

The human figure has been an enduring presence in art for millennia. Over the centuries it has been rhapsodized, idolized and canonized in painting and sculpture. By the twentieth century and in the medium of photography, representations of flaws, blemishes and psychological wounds largely replaced idealized figures. It is perhaps no surprise that jurors Frances Jakubek and Iaritza Menjivar filled the walls of the Griffin Museum’s Main Gallery with myriad iterations of the figure. Both artists, who have served as Associate Directors at the museum, examine the figure in their own work and have brought together a cohesive group show filled with humanity in the “28th Annual Juried Member’s Exhibition” at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA on view through September 4th, 2022. 

From the series Berlin, With You by Liam Jåger, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.

(Feature Image) From the series Bittersweet by Anastasia Sierra, courtesy of the artist and The Griffin Museum of Photography.

Among the works recognized with awards, Liam Jåger and Anastasia Sierra offer emotionally divergent images. Jåger drapes a plastic tarp over a figure seated at a piano in a softly lit black and white picture while Sierra presents a child hiding by its mother bathed in warm light. Jåger’s image invokes a suffocating ache where the sensual pleasure of touch between a mother and toddler in Sierra’s image is disrupted by the child’s distress. Both images allow visitors to contemplate the range of human emotion and to possibly ask, will a child find their place in the world? Will they be able to make music? Find love? Or will they be restrained from fully realizing their potential?

“Mirror Image” by Seth Cook, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.

“Derrick, Nashville” by Rachel Boillot courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.

“Dialog” by Karin Rosenthal, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.

There is a tinge of sadness, loneliness and quiet reverie among some works: Seth Cook’s reflection of a single woman in a mirror; Rachel Boillot’s gently rendered color portrait of a man by a window whose eyes are closed, and Karin Rosenthal’s black and white picture of a solitary woman contemplating her reflection in water. All bring to mind John Szarkovski’s idea that photography can function as both a mirror and a window. 

“Chimera I” by Margaret Hart, photo based collage, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.

“Untitled #10” by Caroline Nicola, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.

“Chastity No. 2” by Chehalis Hegner, 2022, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.

In several images, faces are obscured leaving gesture and body language to convey multiple mysteries or meanings. Margaret Hart’s collage of a zaftig figure endowed with angel wings is colorful and joyful; Caroline Nicola’s underwater head and shoulders with hair aswirl feels refreshing for the summer, and Chehalis Hegner’s  figure with a snake invokes the story of Eve’s quest for knowledge and her sense of female empowerment. Hegner’s image is particularly timely, given the wholesale rollback of women’s rights in recent weeks. 

“Untitled” by Eileen Hohmuth-Lemonick from the series Traces of Time, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.

From the series Part I: Pishon by Andrew Harris, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.

From the series Great School Portraits by Mike Ritter, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.

“El Triste” by Robin Radin from the series Parks and Playgrounds, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.

From the series I Have Been Here Before by Laila Nahar, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.

The notion that we are part of something greater than ourselves is palpably present. For example, Eileen Homuth-Lemonick’s elderly face is partially revealed through a cacophony of wilting flowers, emphasizing that all of nature ages. Andrew Harris’s warmly lit double exposure seems to whisper with a catchlight in the eyes of two Black faces illuminating a faint but physical presence. Among the more traditional portraits are Mike Ritter’s playful picture of a serious young man in a tan suit with an orange bow tie before a colorful childlike mural. It contrasts sharply with Robin Radin’s black and white street picture of a young woman lost in her own thoughts among the graffiti and cement of an urban place or Laila Nahar’s vintage family portrait of a young girl by a barred window in Bangladesh. 

“Standing Together” by Jo Fields, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography

From the series Transcending the Temporal by Annie Omens, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.

“Untitled” by Alexa Cushing, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.

Though the bulk of the show directly references the human figure, several landscapes offer visual punctuations. Jo Field’s path in a desolate meadow affords a psychological entry to the small figures on the horizon, Annie Omens’ bramble of twigs create an aperture that is at once beguiling and creepy, and Alexa Cushing’s darkly shimmering creek undulates into the distance. 

“C-Scape Still Life” by William Hamlin, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.

“Before He Was Killed by Cossacks” by Karen Amy Finkel Fishof. (Installation photograph by Suzanne Révy)

“Three panoramic views of the little forest near my home” by Stefanie Timmerman. (Installation photograph by Suzanne Révy)

“Little Black Dress of Memories” by Nanci Kahn (left) made of Kodachrome and Ektachrome slides, LED light on a vintage dressmaker form, and photograph by Yorgos Efthymidis at 28th Annual Member’s Juried Show, Griffin Museum of Photography. (Installation photograph by Suzanne Révy)

To round it all out, several still life images and sculptural objects add dimensionality to the show. William Hamlin’s gridded still life invites visitors to take a closer look, and Karen Amy Finkel Fishof’s life sized elegiac photogram contemplates loss and memory. And I cannot ignore the two sculptural objects in the room. Stefanie Timmerman’s triptych of jars adorned with a forest rendered in cyanotype speaks directly to Nanci Kahn’s dress made of 35mm slides with old familiar blue bias of vintage Ektachrome film. I would love to wear that dress!

For more information go to: https://griffinmuseum.org