Best Photo Picks April 2026

By Elin Spring and Suzanne Révy

The calendar always wins and spring will come. We trudge on as it’s promise arrives in typical New England fits and starts. Signs of rebirth are heartening, even as we continue to reel from relentless global disasters and scant signs of progress toward a peaceful future. As they have always done, artists are channeling society’s zeitgeist in myriad ways – dark, desperate, uncertain, and even hopeful – that reflect the human spirit in stirring imagery. Our APRIL BEST PHOTO PICKS highlights exhibits and events throughout metro Boston and New England that convey the distinctive power of photography to take the pulse of our lives. We invite you to check back often, as we continually update and add listings.

BOSTON PROPER

“Colored Paper Abstraction #1” 2025 by Abelardo Morell, courtesy of the artist and Krakow Witkin Gallery, Boston.

Krakow Witkin Gallery – Abelardo Morell’s solo exhibition Ideas of Order features a range of captivating work from the last six years. Viewers are offered a rare throughline of Morell’s innovative practice, one that “shows things from an angle so that the subject can remain mysterious but in the clearest and most beautiful way possible.” On view through May 9th, 2026.

NOTE: Artist talks are planned for Saturday, April 25th at 10:30am and 2:00pm. RSVP required.

For more information and/or to RSVP for Artist Talks, go to: https://www.krakowwitkingallery.com/exhibition/abelardo-morell/

“Fawzia (with Her Mother’s Pink Scarf), Bhamdoun, Lebanon, 2022” from Where Do I Go? by Rania Matar, courtesy of the artist, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston and Leica Gallery Boston.

Leica Gallery Boston – As war in the Middle East rages anew, Lebanese-American photographer Rania Matar’s solo exhibit Where Do I Go? rings timely and profound, nuanced and declarative. Her arresting, collaborative environmental portraits of young Lebanese women (facing circumstances similar to Matar’s during the Lebanese Civil War 50 years ago) embody remarkable grace and strength as they struggle to find a way forward. On view through May 31st, 2026, there will be an Opening Reception with the artist on Thursday, April 9th from 6:00 – 8:00pm.

To read our review, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/rania-matar-where-do-i-go-photo-exhibit-at-leica-gallery-boston-and-book-from-kaph/

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

“The Three Wise Men, Sukkot, Minsk Synagogue, Minsk, Former Soviet Union, 1981” by Bill Aron, courtesy of the artist and Pucker Gallery, Boston.

Pucker Gallery  – “People and Places: The Photography of Bill Aron” is a career retrospective featuring moving and incisive work by this chronicler of Jewish communities throughout the world: “a panorama of faces, rituals, artifacts and landscapes that together speak to the experiences of millions of people over centuries.” On view through April 26th, 2026.

To read our review, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/photographer-bill-aron-people-and-places-solo-show-at-pucker-gallery-boston/

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

“Emerge” by Laura Ritch, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA.

Panopticon Gallery – The gallery’s annual juried show, First Look 2026, features short portfolios of current work by five photographers whose images delve into cultural, environmental and personal realms. This year, the exhibit includes captivating photographs from Donna Garcia’s “Indian Land For Sale,” Josh Aronson’s “Florida Boys,” Anastasia Sierra’s “The Witching Hour,” Kevin Williamson’s “Hudson Valley,” and Laura Ritch’s “find the light.” Presented alongside is First Look: A Second Glance, displayed on The Wall at Panopticon Gallery. This selection of small-scale, unframed prints offers a place for compelling additional submissions. On view through April 27th, 2026.

To read our review: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/first-look-2026-group-photo-show-at-panopticon-gallery-boston-ma/

For more information, go to: https://www.panopticongallery.com/first-look-2026-1

“Cuenca (Crowded Bus)” by Cristobal Hara (Spanish, born in 1946), about 1973 Photograph, gelatin silver print. Gift of Peter Soriano, © Cristóbal Hara, Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston – “Faces in the Crowd: Street Photography” presents a five-decade global slice of street photography that brings us up to the present. This gem-like show features the images of twenty-five photographers drawn from the museum’s collection. Their viewpoints illuminate individual and collective responses to socio-political changes, but also the ways in which people’s attitudes and gestures remain familiar over time. On view in the Herb Ritts Gallery through July 26th, 2026. 

To read our review: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/faces-in-the-crowd-street-photography-at-museum-of-fine-arts-boston/

For more information, go to: https://www.mfa.org/exhibition/faces-in-the-crowd-street-photography

Rosângela Rennó, Operação A3-2/Operation A3-2 (detail), 2014. Three inkjet prints, silk paper, Plexiglas, bolts and old lenses. Courtesy of the Artist. © Rosângela Rennó.

New at the MFA, Boston – Fazendo a América, a solo show featuring the work of Brazilian artist Rosângela Rennó (b. 1962). Using images from private and public archives as well as anonymous photographs, she creates immersive installations that reframe history and memory, provoking questions about how photography affects narratives of Latin American political unrest and military dictatorships. The exhibit also includes Rennó’s MFA-commissioned portraits of Brazilian immigrants to the U.S., illuminating the role photographs play in preserving and connecting histories that may be forgotten or overlooked. On view from April 4th – August 2nd, 2026.

For more information, go to: https://www.mfa.org/exhibition/fazendo-a-america

From the series Standing Still in a Constant State of Departure by Landry Major with Cash Kasper, courtesy of the artist.

Griffin Museum Gallery in Lafayette City Center (LCC) – Curated by Michael Kirchoff, Editor in Chief of Analog Forever Magazine, The Pause Between Seeing and Knowing features analog photographic work by Twinkle Banerjee, Harley Cowan, Jacek Gąsiorowski, Osheen Harruthoonyan, and Landry Major with Cash Kasper (photo above). Each artist combines vision and craft in ways that express intentionality and contemplation, relishing process and inviting viewers to slow down and join in. On view from April 1st – June 30th, 2026.

For more information, go to: https://griffinmuseum.org/show/the-pause-between-seeing-and-knowing-an-analog-forever-magazine-exhibition-2/

“With one look you take me back to everything I used to be” 2025, from the series Gathering Rosebuds by Shannon Johnson, courtesy of the artist.

Huret & Spector Gallery, Emerson College – In its brief run, the group exhibit GATHER features 14 emerging regional photographers, curated by upper-level Emerson undergraduate students as part of the seminar  “Curating Contemporary Art,” led by Leslie K. Brown, PhD.. With its hopeful themes of connection and community, the exhibit is a creative foil to the sense of peril and uncertainty that threatens to overwhelm us everyday. On view through April 8th, 2026, there will be an Opening Reception on Friday, April 3rd from 5:00 – 7:00pm.

For more information, go to: https://emersoncontemporary.org/event/gather/

SOWA – Boston’s South End Arts District

“I had to keep on! No stopping for me I was the seed of the coming Free” 2015, by Daesha Devón Harris, courtesy of the artist and ShowUp Gallery, Boston.

ShowUp Gallery – Guest curated by Cassandra Klos, the group show “Reciprocal Ecology” explores diverse ways that photographers engage in reciprocal relationships with nature. Featuring imagery by Kelly Burgess, Daesha Devón Harris (above), Jodie Goodnough, Billy Hickey, Alexandra Ionescu, Camilla Jerome, Jordanna Kalman, Vanessa Leroy, Chris Maliga, Owen McCarter, Lisa McCarty, JaLeel Porcha, Sandra Stark and John Tully. On view through April 26th, 2026, there will be a Reception on First Friday, April 3rd from 5:00 – 8:00pm.

For more information, go to: https://www.showupinc.org/reciprocal-ecology

Courtesy of Very Gallery, Boston, MA.

Gallery Very – Kevin Foley and Lee Wormald: Islands showcases black and white pictures that treat landscape not as a backdrop but as psychological structure. While Kevin Foley’s formal compositions of infrastructure contemplate the symbolic terrain of worksites, Lee Wormald’s images of Flores in the Azores explore how the insularity of an island defines both its territory and its temperament. LAST CHANCE! There will be a Closing Reception on Saturday, April 4th, 2026 from 2:00 – 5:00pm.

For more information: https://www.galleryvery.com

CAMBRIDGE

“Keith” by Hannah Latham, from the exhibition Ripples in Still Water, courtesy of the artist and Gallery 263, Cambridge, MA.

Gallery 263 – Ripples in Still Water features portraits from rural Maine of people suffering or recovering from substance abuse disorder by Hannah Latham for Studio B. Working collaboratively with each sitter, these portraits, which serve as a microcosm for our national addiction problem, offer a sense of empathy and humanity, and may spark conversations to better understand those at risk for the disease. Opening with a reception from 6:30 to 8:30pm April 10th and on view through May 10th, 2026. There will be an artist and community talk on Saturday, May 9th from 1 to 3pm. 

For more information: https://gallery263.org/exhibition/ripples-in-still-water/?doing_wp_cron=1775826902.7203750610351562500000

Danny Lyon, NOW, 1963. Offset lithograph on wove paper. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Marjorie Benedict Cohn Twentieth Century Print Acquisition Fund, 2025.210.

Harvard Art Museums (HAM) – Photography has always played a critical role in times of political upheaval, exerting the power to inspire action, or in other instances, to stifle dissent. In Come Let Us Build A New World Together, eleven of Danny Lyon’s photographs and three newly acquired Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee posters documenting the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s are on display in Gallery 1320 at the Harvard Art Museums through October 1, 2026.

For more information, go to: https://harvardartmuseums.org/article/collections-in-motion-what-s-new-on-view-5

From the series Grandma From the Corner, Lany Village, Ukraine, December 2021, by Uliana Storoshchuk, courtesy of ZEKE magazine and Bridge Gallery, Cambridge.

Bridge Gallery – The gallery is hosting Witness, a group exhibit of photographs from the Social Documentary Network’s (SDN) 2026 ZEKE Awards. Stirring images from 20 first place and honorable mention winners span the globe from Ukraine to Uganda to the US, presenting compelling stories by documentary photographers who find it increasingly dangerous to bear witness in these turbulent times. On view through April 18th, 2026.

For more information about the exhibit and the gallery’s hour of operation, go to: https://www.bridge.photos/contact

AND

https://www.socialdocumentary.net/cms/witness-bridge-gallery-2026

“Of Hybrids and Other Things” 2016, from Castaways: The Afterlife of Plastic by TRES, courtesy of the Peabody Museum of Archeology & Ethnology at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology at Harvard University, Cambridge – Castaway: The Afterlife of Plastic presents work by Mexican artists Ilana Boltvinik and Rodrigo Viñas, who together form the collective TRES, recipients of the Robert Gardner Fellowship in Photography. The bilingual photographic exhibition documents their 2016 journey along the beaches of Queensland, Western Australia, and Tasmania, where they collected and photographed varied debris that had washed up from places as far away as China. Their images, many presented in macro scale, evoke archaeology, marine biology, and cartography, inviting viewers to ponder the natural landscapes and the stark, unnatural objects scattered across them. Exhibit curator Ilisa Barbash emphasizes that “rather than producing a simple diatribe about the environment, TRES plays with the sizes, shapes, and colors of familiar castaway items, inviting us to see their beauty and attempt to make sense of them.” LAST CHANCE! On view through April 6th, 2026.

For more information, go to: https://peabody.harvard.edu/castaway-afterlife-plastic

THE BURBS

Feature Image: “Taylor with Mark and Dan – Horse Logger, Winter Wisconsin” by Carl Corey, 2009, from the series BLUE: A Portrait of the American Worker, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.

From the series By the Tide by Edward Boches, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.

The Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester – Laborers are the backbone of America, and also the subject of the second in a series of exhibitions to commemorate the 250th birthday of the United States. Curated by Carl Corey, Labor Daily: American Working Class features photography by Corey, Chris Aluka Barry, Daniel Overturf, Inna Valin, Julie Dermansky, Terry Evans and Xavier Tavera. Edward Boches’ Labors of Love: Illuminating the Archive will be featured in the Founders Gallery. An artist panel from 3 to 4:30pm precedes a reception from 5 to 7pm on Friday, April 17th, on view from April 17th through May 24th, 2026. 

For more information: https://griffinmuseum.org

“Vistula River, Warsaw Poland” by Rachel Loischild, 2025, from the series Quarantine Islands, courtesy of the artist and the Danforth Art Museum, Framingham, MA.

“Untitled” by William Betcher from the exhibition Memento Mori, courtesy of the artist and the Danforth Art Museum, Framingham, MA.

“People I Don’t Know #4” by Aline Smithson, from the collaborative Memory is a Verb, courtesy of the artist and the Danforth Art Museum, Framingham.

Danforth Art Museum and Art School, Framingham – A lot of photography goodness is gracing the walls at the Danforth in three exhibitions: Memory is a Verb is a collective of ten photographers probing issues of memory, loss and self, with images by Elizabeth Bailey, Annette LeMay Burke, Dena Elisabeth Eber, Sarah Hadley, Diane Hemingway, Susan Lapides, Lori Ordover, Jennifer Pritchard, Rosalie Rosenthal, and Aline Smithson. Memento Mori features William Betcher’s haunting meditations on death, memory and history. Quarantine Islands presents Rachel Loischild’s affecting landscapes exploring past policies on immigration and public health. On view through May 24th, 2026.

To read our review of “Quarantine Islands”, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/quarantine-islands-by-rachel-loischild-at-danforth-art/

To read our review of “Memento Mori”, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/memento-mori-photo-exhibit-by-william-betcher-at-danforth-art-framingham-ma/

To read our review of “Memory is a Verb,” go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/memory-is-a-verb-group-photo-show-at-danfoth-art-museum-in-framingham-ma/

For more information: https://danforth.framingham.edu

Courtesy of the Davis Museum, Wellesley College.

Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Wellesley – Ilse Bing came to prominence during a seminal time in the development of the history of photography, with the rise of 35mm photography, which exerted a powerful impact on the photo-essay and introduced groundbreaking surrealist works made through solarization and photograms. The World’s of Ilse Bing, curated by Dr. Carrie Cushman, Director of the Bates College Museum of Art, and Curatorial Fellow Linda Wyatt Gruber (Wellesley ’66), is organized geographically according to the three cities where Bing lived. It brings her work into conversation with her creative influences and with those who she influenced in the worlds of modern art.  On view through May 24th, 2026.

For more information: https://www1.wellesley.edu/davismuseum

“When things no longer fit, you have to let them go.” by Deborah Bai-Lannon, from the series Aftermath, courtesy of the artist and the DeMenil Gallery, Groton School, Groton, MA.

DeMenil Gallery, Groton School, Groton – From 2020 through 2024, photographer Deborah Bai-Lannon served as a volunteer photo documentarian for the Home Base Veterans and Family Program (Charlestown, MA) during its “Respite Weekends” at Harvard University’s Polo Farm in Hamilton, MA. The weekends offer veterans recovering from PTSD a temporary reprieve from the intensity of clinical treatment in Boston by placing them in a tranquil rural environment. Bai-Lannon photographed the activities of more than two hundred participants from all branches of the service. Her black and white photographs in Aftermath consider recovery not as a definitive endpoint, but as an evolving process shaped by time, environment, and human connection. On view through April 29th, 2026.

For more information: https://www.groton.org/arts/galleries

Marion Art Center, Marion – As a welcome antidote to these agitated times, the re/vision photography group presents Collective Sightings: Visions of Grace, Harmony & Solitude. Photographs by Angela C. Brown (photo), Bill Clark, David DeMelim, Deb Ehrens and Keith Prue intrigue the eye and soothe the soul. On view from April 24th – May 22nd, 2026, there will be an Opening Reception with the artists on Friday, April 24th from 5:00 – 7:00pm.

For more information about the exhibit, go to: https://www.riphotocenter.org/collective-sightings-re-vision-at-the-marion-art-center/

Courtesy of the Plymouth Center for the Arts.

Plymouth Center for the Arts, Plymouth – Opening later this month, and always a varied and dynamic show, the 16th Annual Juried Competition and Exhibition selected by Nancy Green, Lou Jones and Shiv Verma. Opening Reception is April 25th from 4 to 6pm and on view through May 31st, 2026.

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

Manuel Goulart (Portuguese, 1866-1946), Studio Portraits. Dry Plate Glass Negative, 5 x 7 in. NBWM 1993.48.19.36.

New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford – The exhibition, Look Pleasant, Please, debuts a collection of archival photographic portraits reflecting historical and cultural changes in New Bedford as it transformed from a whaling town to a textiles center. Over 300 portraits from 1839 to 1900 feature examples of Daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, carte-de-visites, cabinet cards, gelatin silver prints and albums. On view through September 7th, 2026.

For more information, go to: https://www.whalingmuseum.org/exhibition/look-pleasant-please-early-portrait-photography-in-new-bedford/

CENTRAL and WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS

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

Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg – Good news: the museum now offers free admission! And after a three month hiatus this past fall to prepare for a centennial celebration, they have re-opened with the ongoing show Ask Now the Beasts by Tara Sellios, on view through May 24th, 2026. 

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

For more information: https://fitchburgartmuseum.org

From the exhibition RACE/HUSTLE by Zora J. Murff, courtesy of the artist and MASS MoCa, North Adams, MA.

MASS MoCA, North Adams – Zora J. Murff presents photographs, collages, video and text in RACE/HUSTLE that probes physical, psychological and institutional forms of societal violence. Curated by Terence Washington through MASS MoCA’s Curatorial Exchange Initiative, Murff examines the deleterious effects of institutional racism that have been visually normalized through history and how they manifest in every day culture. Ongoing.

For more information: https://massmoca.org/event/zora-j-murff-race-hustle/

ROAD TRIP!

Rhode Island

Courtesy of the Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, Providence, RI.

Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts (RICPA), Providence – For the past several years, to honor Women’s History Month, the gallery has showcased women photographers in Behind the Lens: Women in Photography. This year’s exhibit, “The Imogenes,” features work by Karla Bernstein, Diane Collins, Estelle Dish, Deb Ehrens, Paula Laverty, Lisa Redburn and Jean Schnell. On view through April 10th, 2026. 

Courtesy of the Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, Providence, RI.

Opening later this month at RIPCA, Providence – The 7th Annual Juried Show was selected by Eric Kunsman and Emily Belz chose Sandi Daniel’s “In the Enchanted Garden” for a solo show from last year’s juried show entries. Opening with a reception from 5 to 8pm on April 16th and on view through May 15th, 2026. 

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

Courtesy of the Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, Providence, RI.

Connecticut

“The Missing Pictures” by Sean Kernan, courtesy of the artist and Kehler Liddell Gallery, New Haven, CT.

Kehler Liddell Gallery, New Haven – The gallery is showing two bodies of work by Sean Kernan: The Missing Pictures embodies the “mood, echoes, chilly air and fading light” during an imaginary journey to an empty rural home, dropping visual clues about the prior lives and possible spirits who inhabit it; No Place…No Date…No Caption is a collection of small prints “reconstructing a pilgrimage across fifty years and thousands of miles that the photographer never even knew he was on” and includes an invitation for viewers to collaborate. On view through April 19th, 2026.

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

Bauernfamilie (Farming Family), by August Sander, 1912, printed 1990s by Gerd Sander. Gelatin silver print. Yale University Art Gallery, Société Anonyme Acquisition Fund and Katharine Ordway Fund. © Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur—August Sander Archiv, Cologne/ARS, NY 2025

Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven – One of the most influential photographers, August Sander, is given a comprehensive exhibition of over 600 prints from his magnum opus People of the 20th Century. On view through June 28th, 2026.

For more information: https://artgallery.yale.edu/exhibitions/exhibition/august-sanders-people-20th-century

Maine

“Leaning Tower of Pisa” 1980 by Ming Smith, courtesy of the artist and The Gund at Kenyon College.

Portland Museum of Art – Tracing the early stages of her career in the 1970’s and ’80’s, Ming Smith: Jazz Requiem-Notations in Blue explores the influence of intuitive expression found in dance and music, particularly jazz, as a throughline in Smith’s innovative artistic vision. On view through June 7th, 2026.

For more information, go to: https://www.portlandmuseum.org/magazine/ming-smith-jazz-requiem-notations-in-blue-exhibit

Vermont

From the series Mystic by Madeleine Balch, courtesy of the artist and the Vermont Center for Photography, Brattleboro, VT.

Vermont Center for Photography (VCP), Brattleboro – Each winter, VCP invites an esteemed juror to bring together their annual juried show. This year, Marvin Heiferman proffered the theme “Why We Look: Questioning the World Before Us,” featuring forty photographers. On view through April 26th, 2026.

For more information: https://vcphoto.org