Best Photo Picks April 2025

By Elin Spring and Suzanne Révy

In chilly New England after a long, frigid winter, we are determined to think springtime thoughts. Admittedly, this is also a metaphor for our times. Despite the prospect of a disruptive long and winding road ahead, we aim to focus on imagery that nourishes, sustains, sometimes enrages, and ultimately empowers us. To that end, our April Best Photo Picks brings you the most intriguing exhibits around metro Boston and New England, organized geographically for your planning convenience. Please feel free to check back throughout the month, as we add and update listings frequently.

SOWA – Boston’s South End Arts District

Feature Image: “Field of Rape Seed with Blue Barn, Blue Sky” 2019, from the series Still by Vaughn Sills, courtesy of the artist and Kingston Gallery, Boston.

Kingston Gallery – On one level, Vaughn Sills’ solo exhibit, Still, is a testament to the persistence of rural life on Prince Edward Island, Canada. But it does not take a huge leap to perceive the artist’s symbolism, “All this still speaks to my heart, and satisfies my need to find beauty, order, purpose, and quiet.” Beyond the calm, Still embraces the idea of carrying on against great odds, a heartening message in this challenging moment. On view through April 27th, 2025, there will be an Opening Reception with the artist on First Friday, April 4th, from 5:00 – 8:00pm and an Artist Talk on Saturday, April 19th at 2:00pm.

For more information, go to: https://www.kingstongallery.com/project-sills-2025

Abakus Projects – Zora J Murff: The Devil Hiding in Plain Sight features photographs and photo-collages indicting police brutality and the persistent American racial inequities that support it. In provoking enragement, Murff  seeks “to address the general apathy people feel and enact towards anti-Black oppression that is the result of misinformation and miseducation.”

On view through Sunday April 20th, 2025. 

For more information, go to: https://www.abakusprojects.com/

BOSTON PROPER

“Flor, Ita Savi, from the Coast” by Luvia Lazo, courtesy of the artist and Leica Gallery Boston.

Leica Gallery, Boston – Reclamation, Resilience, and Rebirth features engrossing and powerful imagery by the 2024 Leica Women Foto Project Awardees Luvia Lazo (above), Camille Farrah Lenain, Dola Posh, and Stasia Schmidt. On view through April 20th, 2024.

To read our review, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/luvia-lazo-camille-farrah-lenain-dola-posh-and-stasia-schmidt-at-leica-gallery-boston/

From the series Soul Reflection by Cheriss May, courtesy of Leica Gallery Boston.

Coming next to Leica Gallery Boston – Cheriss May’s solo exhibition Soul Reflection is an introspective journey that reflects the soul’s complexity, using the metaphor of flowers— particularly hydrangeas— as a symbol for growth and change. On view from April 25th – June 1st, 2025, there will be an Opening Reception with the artist on Friday, April 25th from 6:00 -8:00PM. 

For more information, go to: https://www.instagram.com/leicagalleryboston/

“New” 2025, from the series Almost Gone by Cynthia Katz, courtesy of the artist and Jessica Hagen Gallery, Newport, R.I.

Griffin Museum Gallery at Lafayette City Center (LCC), Downtown Crossing – Elemental Blues: Contemporary Cyanotypes explores the ways that six artists today utilize the ancient, archival method of “blue printing” to express creative new imagery. Featured artists are: Anna Leigh Clem, Brett Windham, Bryan Whitney, Julia Whitney Barnes, Sally Chapman and Cynthia Katz (above). On view through June 30th, 2025.

For more information, go to: https://griffinmuseum.org/show/elemental-blues-contemporary-cyanotypes/#more-show-text

From the series Circumference by S. Billie Mandle, courtesy of the artist and the Boston Atheneaum.

Boston Athenaeum, Alcove Gallery – S. Billie Mandle’s quiet contemplation of Emily Dickinson’s writing room evokes the emotional resonances of changing light and the parallels found in the poet’s evocative works. Created over the course of a year, the textures of the walls shimmer and transform, inviting viewers to join her reverie. On view through May 17th, 2025.

For more information: https://bostonathenaeum.org/whats-on/exhibitions/circumference/

From the series Otherworldly by Raquel Fornasaro, courtesy of the artist.

Media Art Gallery at Emerson Contemporary – The group exhibit MOVEMENT/S  “explores the dynamic between motion and stillness” in our current, dizzying world, utilizing a broad range of media including analog and digital photography, photo sculpture/installation, interactive video and projection, 3D scanning, and experimental animation. The special sauce here is that the exhibition was curated by 14 Emerson undergraduate students as part of a Visual Media Arts course, “Curating Contemporary Art,” taught and led by Leslie K. Brown, PhD. The jury selected 14 “boundary-pushing” emerging artists from the Greater Boston area whose work asks viewers “how we navigate periods of flux, confront stagnation, and ultimately move forward.” A timely show, for certain. On view from April 11th – May 3rd, 2025, there will be an Opening Reception on Friday, April 11th from 4:00 – 6:00pm.

For more information, go to: https://emersoncontemporary.org/event/emerson-contemporary-presents-movement-s/

From the series Where They Still Remain by Austin Bryant, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston.

Panopticon Gallery – The annual juried portfolio showcase, “First Look 2025”  features the work of five artists whose portfolios offer viewers context, richness and meaning that is not possible with the display of a single piece. Diana Cheren Nygren’s Mother Earth, Andriana Nativio’s As We Rest in the Shadows, Austin Bryant’s Where They Still Remain (above), Ira Garber’s Kinetic Landscapes, and work by Anne Sol are displayed in the main gallery space, while a new addition to the gallery called The Wall presents First Look: Second Glance. Both exhibits are on view through April 28th, 2025. 

To read our review: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/austin-bryant-andriana-nativio-diana-cheren-nygren-anne-sol-and-ira-garber-in-first-look-2025-at-panopticon-gallery-boston/

For more information, go to: https://www.panopticongallery.com/first-look-2025-1

Spread from Mary’s Book (detail), by Robert Frank (American, born in Switzerland, 1924–2019)
Illustrated book with 75 gelatin silver prints., 1949, Gift of the Howard Greenberg Gallery, © The June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation, Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA, Boston) – Renowned photographer and filmmaker Robert Frank was born 100 years ago. To celebrate, the museum is exhibiting Robert Frank: Mary’s Book, featuring seventy-five photographs and inscriptions he created in 1949 as part of a gift scrapbook to the woman who would become his first wife, Mary Lockspeiser. These original spreads from the MFA’s collection are accompanied by photographs Frank took in Paris, on loan from the artist’s foundation. On view through June 22nd, 2025.

To read our review, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/robert-frank-marys-book-at-the-museum-of-fine-arts-boston/

For more information, go to: https://www.mfa.org/exhibition/robert-frank-marys-book

GREATER BOSTON – Cambridge and Somerville

Photographic Resource Center (PRC), Cambridge – In an exhibition curated by Catherine LeComte Lecce, PHOTO/FACULTY presents the work of fifty-two photography faculty members from fourteen institutions, in celebration of these inspiring artists who mentor the next generation of photographers.  (Photo © David Hilliard) On view from April 4th – May 17th, 2025, there will be an Opening Reception with many of the artists on Saturday, April 5th from 5:00 – 7:00pm.

For more information, go to: https://www.prcboston.org/photo-faculty/

Bridge Gallery, Cambridge – Documentary photographer Margo Cooper has spent nearly three decades recording the history of the Mississippi Delta Blues. Her portraits are inscribed with the hardship, pride and determination of Blues musicians and their families in her solo exhibition Deep Inside the Blues. In her accompanying book, you can learn their stories. LAST CHANCE! On view through April 5th, 2025.

For more information, go to: https://www.bridge.photos/contact

Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology at Harvard University, Cambridge – In his award-winning project, Manifest: Thirteen Colonies, Wendel A. White selected and photographed objects with charged historic and spiritual impact on African Americans. Black and white baby dolls from a famed social science experiment, a midcentury voting machine, a lock of Frederick Douglass’ hair all gain resonance in White’s spare, naturally-lit images. As the 2021 Robert Gardner Fellow in Photography at the museum, White’s exhibition is accompanied by a book published by the museum in conjunction with Radius Books. On view through Sunday, April 13th, 2025.

To read our review, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/wendel-white-exhibit-manifest-thirteen-colonies-at-harvard-peabody-museum-of-archaeology-and-ethnology-in-cambridge-ma/

For more information, go to: https://peabody.harvard.edu/news/wendel-white-photo-exhibition-manifest-thirteen-colonies-open-harvard%E2%80%99s-peabody-museum

Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge – The excess of consumer goods circulating from the United States and Europe to Africa, particularly t-shirts with English slogans or graphics worn by those that artist Joanna Choumali has met in the marketplaces in Ghana and Côte D’Ivoire are the subject of life-sized hand made quilts and embroidered portraits in Joanna Choumali: Languages of Western African Marketplaces. On view through May 11th, 2025. 

For more information: https://harvardartmuseums.org/exhibitions/6415/joana-choumali-languages-of-west-african-marketplaces

SomArt Space at the Somerville Armory – Developed by Neuroscientist and photographer Joshua Sarinaña, Mental Mapping is an experimental, collaborative project that draws on the connections between between art, science, technology, and community engagement. Large Language Models such as ChatGPT are utilized to chart a participant’s cognitive networks and investigate connections between them and their environments, both physical and virtual. There will be an Artist Reception on April 24th, 2025 from 6:30 – 8:00pm.  On view to explore and/or participate through June 22nd, 2025.

For more information, go to: https://www.joshuasarinana.com/mental-mapping

The Curated Fridge Spring 2025!

The Curated Fridge (TCF), Somerville – Mark your calendars for the Opening Party of TCF Spring 2025 Show on Saturday, April 26th, from 3-5pm. The curator, Doug Breault, Exhibitions Director at Gallery 263 in Cambridge, MA, will also attend. There will be wine, beers, and snacks! Bring whatever you want or just come enjoy the art and connect with fellow photographers.
The address is 281 Medford Street, in Somerville MA, just behind Somerville Public Library. 5min walk from the Gilman Station (Green Line)

For more information, go to: https://www.thecuratedfridge.com/Fridge-Shows-1/Spring-2025

THE BURBS 

“Portrait at 35” by Jiyeon Sung, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.

Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester – New Horizons: Contemporary Korean Photography will introduce New England audiences to seven Korean photographers who document and interpret a dynamic and changing society by exploring themes of longing and loss. Curated by Joanne Junga Yang, the exhibition features Ok Hyun Ahn, Seongyoun Koo, Anna Lim, Soosik Lim, Hyundoo Park, Jiyeon Sung and Sun Hi Zo. On view from April 17th through June 29th, 2025, there will be a Reception with some of the Artists on May 9th from 6:00 – 8:00pm and a Korean Cultural Night on May 10th from 5:30 – 7:30pm.

For more information: https://griffinmuseum.org/show/koreancontemporary25/#more-show-text

“Egg, Pancakes and Yarn” by Astrid Reischwitz, 2024  from the series The Taste of Memory, courtesy of the artist.

Concord Art, Concord – Astrid Reischwitz shows her recent series, The Taste of Memory which pays homage to the kitchen traditions of her family through still life photographs made in her small home town in Germany.  Narratives of Time And Nature: Rebecca Mann + Astrid Reischwitz presents the work in dialog with painter Rebecca Mann. Opens with a reception at 5:30pm on April 3rd and on view through May 4th, 2025.

For more information: https://concordart.org/exhibition/rebecca-mann-astrid-reischwitz/

Diane Arbus, Identical twins, Cathleen (l.) and Colleen, members of a twin club in New Jersey, 1966, printed 1970. Gelatin silver print, 14 3/4 x 14 3/4 inches. Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA. Gift of the Stephen C. Sherrill Collection of American Art Foundation, 2024.122.2.1

Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover – Drawing on its extensive photographic archive, museum Director Allison Kemmerer has curated Dynamic Duo, an exhibit that considers the relationships and interactions of two beings sharing space, whether they be romantic partners, family members, close friends, rivals, strangers, or interspecies companions. On view through July 31st, 2025.

To read our review, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/dynamic-duos-group-photo-show-at-addison-gallery-of-american-art-in-andover-ma/

For more information, go to: https://addison.andover.edu/exhibition/dynamic-duos/

“Weighted” by Hannah Altman, from the exhibition As It Were, Suspended in Midair, courtesy of the artist.

Kniznick Gallery at Brandeis University, Waltham – Hannah Altman’s solo show, As It Were, Suspended in Midair explores how myths and legends are shared, woven and reconsidered through generations within the Jewish diaspora. Employing Yiddish literature and mystical texts, Altman places her female sitters either in the landscape or within interiors that are fraught with tension as she interprets and retells traditional stories based in a patriarchal culture. On view through June 12th, 2025. 

To read our review: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/as-it-were-suspended-in-midair-by-hannah-altman-kniznick-gallery-brandeis-university-waltham-ma/

For more information: https://www.brandeis.edu/hbi/artist-program/index.html

“Cheryl, Jamie and Michael, July 3rd, 1983” by Stephen DiRado, from the Bell Pond series, courtesy of the artist and the Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA.

Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg – Stephen DiRado, Better Together: Forty Years of Photography  presents work from the artist’s large format black and white projects including his Dinner Series, Bell Pond, Jump and portraits from Martha’s Vineyard. This retrospective also features a projection of the entire Across the Table project which boasts just over a thousand images, as well as films that examine his process of making art from everyday encounters with family, friends and surroundings. On view through June 1st, 2025.

To read our review: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/stephen-dirado-better-together-four-decades-of-photographs-at-fitchburg-art-museum-in-ma/

“Ascendo” by Tara Sellios from the series Ask Now the Beasts, courtesy of the artist and the Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA.

Also on view at Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg – Tara Sellios: Ask Now the Beasts revels in the dance between mortality and immortality through still-life images of organic material such as dried flowers, desiccated insects and animal skeletons. Sellios creates these divine and physical tableaux based on expressive and detailed sketches, then renders them in lush color on 8″ by 10″ film and large format prints. On view through January 18th, 2026. 

To read our review: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/ask-now-the-beasts-tara-sellios-at-fitchburg-art-museum-in-ma/

For more information about all exhibits and to register for events, go to: https://fitchburgartmuseum.org

From the series Ways of my Ancestors – We are Still Here by Scott Strong Hawk Foster, courtesy of the artist and the Worcester Art Museum.

Worcester Art Museum, Worcester – Scott Strong Hawk Foster is a Native American photographer whose Hassanamisco Nipmuc, Mohegan, and Cherokee heritage inspire the exhibition Ways of My Ancestors – We are Still Here. Installed as part of the Central Massachusetts Artist Initiative, the show features seven portraits of prominent Nipmuc people who are indigenous to Central Massachusetts and northern Rhode Island. On view through May 11th, 2025.

For more information: https://www.worcesterart.org/exhibitions/cmai/scott-strong-hawk-foster/

ROAD TRIP! 

Rhode Island

“Stop, Sells, AZ” by Matt Temple from the exhibition Take the Next Exit: Matt Temple, courtesy of the artist and the Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, Providence, RI.

Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, Providence – Two shows to look for, a member’s show juried by Emily Belz and  Take the Next Exit: Matt Temple.  Based in Boston, Temple has been traveling with his daughter who is lives in Arizona and they have explored the American southwest to discover the patina of age on the relics along the old Route 66 or near the Mexican border. Both shows open with a reception from 5 to 8pm on April 17th and will be on view through May 9th, 2025. 

For more information, go to: https://www.riphotocenter.org/

Portraits of the Precarious Earth by Donna Bassin, installation view courtesy of the artist.

Newport Art Museum, Newport – Photo based landscapes, installations and videos explore the environmental crisis and its emotional toll in Portraits of the Precarious Earth by Donna Bassin. Employing layers, Bassin erases political boundaries of maps to create a narrative of global responsibly. Her use of ephemera such as photo corners, thread and Japanese washi tape probe the tension between the wounds we are inflicting on the earth and the potential for healing. The artist selected 19th century paintings from the museum’s collection to emphasize concerns for the environment by earlier practitioners. An artist talk and screening of “The Art of Repair” by Rhode Island PBS’s Art Inc. featuring Bassin’s exhibition is planned for April 11th from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM.  On view through May 5th, 2025. 

For more information: https://newportartmuseum.org/exhibitions/donna-bassin-portraits-of-the-precarious-earth/

New Hampshire

“Ha’ina ‘ia mai” by Cara Romero, 2024, archival pigment print. Collection of the artist. © Cara Romero, courtesy of the Hood Museum, Hanover, NH.

Hood Museum, Hanover, NH – In her first major solo exhibition, artist Cara Romero explores themes of indigenous culture. Titled Cara Romero: Panûpünüwügai (Living Light) the show includes over sixty large-scale photographs and site specific installations curated by Dr. Jami Powell, Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Indigenous Art. On view through August 10th 2025. 

For more information: https://hoodmuseum.dartmouth.edu/news/2023/11/hood-museum-present-cara-romeros-first-solo-museum-exhibition-2025

Maine 

“#127” by Joan Fitzsimmons, 2015 from the series Small and Large Thoughts, courtesy of the artist and the Maine Museum of Photographic Arts.

Maine Museum of Photographic Arts, Portland – The museum reopens for the spring season with Trace featuring ten photographers who explore the relics and imprints which ask the question, “what remains when something is gone?” Featuring Jodi Colella, Joseph Podlesnik, June Kim, Sarah Hood Salomon, Drew Harty, Joan Fitzsimmons, Sarah Stites, John Pelletier, Carolin Savage and Frank Lopez. Opens with a reception from 5 to 8pm on April 4th, and on view through May 31st, 2025. Artist talks are planned for April 25th and May 16th. 

For more information: https://www.mainemuseumofphotographicarts.org

Maine Jewish Museum, Portland – In his solo exhibition, Lorica: Masks of Eternity, Craig Becker extends his passion for masks to express “our current state of vulnerability, the subconscious, and the corners of ourselves, individually and collectively, that exist in darkness.” On view through May 2nd, 2025.

For more information, go to: https://mainejewishmuseum.org/exhibits/

“Serpent #1” by Jo Sandman, 1998, platinum/palladium print, courtesy of the artist and the Portland Museum of Art.

Portland Museum of Art, Portland – Celebrating the acquisition of twelve unique photograms of snakeskins arranged as hieroglyphs with Jo Sandman: Skin Deep on view through August 17th, 2025. 

For more information: https://www.portlandmuseum.org/jo-sandman-skin-deep

Vermont

“Untitled (Our Family’s Garden)” by Claudio Eshun, courtesy of the artist and the Vermont Center for Photography.

Vermont Center for Photography, Brattleboro – Of Land and Place: A Juried Exhibition features forty-one photographers (including our very own Suzanne Révy) from across the U.S.A and Canada, juried by Karen Haas, Lane Curator of Photographs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and interdisciplinary artist Sharon Harper. The call sought to find photographers looking at our environment in engaging and thoughtful ways. Opens with a reception from 5 to 8pm on March 7th and on view through April 27th, 2025.

To read our review, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/of-land-and-place-juried-photography-show-at-vermont-center-for-photography-in-brattleboro/

For more information: https://vcphoto.org/of-land-and-place-a-juried-exhibition/