By Elin Spring and Suzanne Révy
Does the bitter cold and raucous political landscape seem overwhelming? No better time to stir your mind and boost your spirits by connecting through photography. Our February Best Photo Picks is filled with bright ideas! Discover new, inspiring exhibits and events all around metro Boston and New England, listed geographically for your planning convenience. And remember to check back throughout the month for updates and new listings.
BOSTON PROPER

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

“Chance of Rain” from the series Mother Earth by Diana Cheren Nygren, 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 (above), Andriana Nativio’s As We Rest in the Shadows, Austin Bryant’s Where They Still Remain, Ira Garber’s Kinetic Landscapes, and work by Anne Sol will be shown in the main gallery space, while a new addition to the gallery called The Wall will present First Look: Second Glance. Both exhibits will be on view from February 13th – April 28th, 2025. There will be an Opening Reception with some of the artists on Thursday, February 13th from 6:00 – 8:00pm.
For more information, go to: https://www.panopticongallery.com/first-look-2025-1

“South Station MBTA” by Jeff Larason, courtesy of the artist.
Griffin Museum at Lafayette City Center, Downtown Crossing – Unexpectedly quiet moments in monumental city and urban environments are a hallmark of the work of photographers Jeff Larason and Lynn Saville. Larason has explored Boston with an eye toward architectural and geometric forms that emphasizes scale and solitude. Saville’s studies of New York City blanketed by the night sky recall the psychological charge of Hopper paintings and the surrealistic bent of DeChirico. On view through March 23rd, 2025.
NOTE: There will be an online Artist Talk on Thursday, February 20th, from 7:00 – 8:30pm.
To read our review, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/jeff-larason-and-lynn-saville-exhibit-solitude-in-cities-at-griffin-museum-lafayette-city-center-gallery-in-boston-ma/
For more information and registration for the online Artist Talk, go to: https://griffinmuseum.org/current-exhibitions/#satellite

“Rooftops from Court Square Platform” by Lynn Saville, courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery, NYC.

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

“Japanese Stewartia and Leaves” from the series Intimate Vistas by Marc Goldring, courtesy of the artist.

“Vangelis O.” by Yorgos Efthymiadis, installation, 2021 from the series The Lighthouse Keepers, courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography.
Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester – Family values are probed through the lenses of six LGBTQ+ artists who celebrate their domestic spheres in Nuclear Family. Curated by artist Katalina Simon in collaboration with the Griffin’s Executive Director Crista Dix, the exhibition features Jess T. Dugan’s A Letter to my Daughter, Mengwen Cao’s Liminal Space, Yorgos Efthymiadis’ Lighthouse Keepers (above), Laurence Philomene’s untitled explorations of the self, Matthew Leifheit’s Queer Archives and Ann Vetter’s Love is Not the Last Room.
Also on view is Kevin Bennett Moore’s Meditations in an Emergency in the Griffin Atelier Gallery and Matthew Finley’s An Impossibly Normal Life in the Griffin Gallery. All exhibitions on view through March 30th 2025.
NOTE: There will be an online Panel Discussion with the Artists on Thursday, February 27th from 6:30 – 8:30pm
For more information and related programming: https://griffinmuseum.org

From the series Interiors: Between Refuge and Restraint by Tira Khan, courtesy of the artist.
The Allen Center for arts & culture, Newton – In her series Interiors: Between Refuge and Restraint, photographer Tira Khan considers the effect of our shifting political landscape on the lives of women. Layering her portraits of women with domestic, decorative wallpapers, her images are at once eerie and pleasing – metaphors for the comforts and restraints women have faced historically and in light of current precarious changes to women’s rights. On view through March 4th, 2025.
For more information, go to: https://newtonculture.org/

“Yad (You)” by Hannah Altman, from the exhibition As It Were, Suspended in Midair, courtesy of the artist and Hadassah-Brandeis Institute at Brandeis University, Waltham, MA.
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 from February 13th through June 12th, 2025. A reception is planned for February 13th from 5:30 to 7:30pm.
For more information: https://www.brandeis.edu/wsrc/kniznick-gallery/index.html
CENTRAL AND WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
deMenil Gallery at Groton School, Groton – Photographers Jesse Burke (photo above) and Craig J. Barber join in What Gorgeous Thing at the deMenil Gallery at Groton School. On view through March 28th, 2025.
For information, go to: https://www.groton.org/arts/visual-art/galleries

Feature Image: “Lights Out, Chilmark, MA, July 5th, 1998” by Stephen DiRado, from the Dinner Series, courtesy of the artist and the Fitchburg Art Museum.
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 will also feature 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. An opening reception is planned for February 8th from 2 to 4pm, registration required.

“Ascendo (detail)” by Tara Sellios from the series Ask Now the Beasts, courtesy of the artist and the Fitchburg Art Museum
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 December 2025. An opening reception is planned for February 8th from 2 to 4pm.

“That Evening Sun Goes Down” by Tamari Kudita, 2020 (Installation photograph by Suzanne Révy)
Closing later this month at the Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg – In an ongoing celebration of their expanding photography collection that now includes a large selection of pictures made by African photographers, the museum has installed Africa Rising: 21st Century African Photography. It includes photographs by Tamari Kudita (above), Zanele Muholi, Lalla Essaydi, and Wilfred Ukpong among others. Work on view grapples with themes such as environmental exploitation, the aftermath of colonialism, women’s empowerment and Afro-Futurism. On view through February 23rd, 2025.
To read our review: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/africa-rising-contemporary-photographs-at-the-firtchburg-art-museum-fitchburg-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/

From the series The Village by Yoav Horesh, courtesy of the artist and the Shiltkamp Gallery, Clark University.
Schiltkamp Gallery, Clark University, Worcester – If you missed this show when it was installed in Maine, here’s a chance to catch it. The Village by Yoav Horesh features thirty gelatin silver black and white prints made during daily walks with his daughter in the small town of Kittery, Maine. These affecting images are filled with a kind of wonder at both his daughter and this unassuming and humble neighborhood. On view through March 16th, 2025.
For more information: https://www.clarku.edu/departments/visual-and-performing-arts/facilities/schiltkamp-gallery/

Tabula by Vaune Trachtman, from the series All That Is, courtesy of the artist.
Von Augsberg Gallery, Deerfield Academy, Deerfield – Now is Always and All That is presents Vaune Trachtman’s haunting photo gravures featuring overlays of her own contemporary pictures with archival photographs by her father. These are accompanied by more recent work with personal archival material and handwriting. On view through February 28th with a reception planned for Saturday, February 15th from 3 to 5:00pm.
For more information: https://deerfield.edu/academics/von-auersperg-gallery

Abelardo Morell: In the Company of Monet and Constable, courtesy of The Clark.
The Clark Art Institute, Williamstown – Photographer Abelardo Morell is known for his Camera Obscura pictures made in recent years with a tent camera which projects images onto the ground. Inspired by 19th century landscape painting, he has wandered in the footsteps of artistic luminaries such as Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet in France and John Constable in England. Abelardo Morell: In the Company of Monet and Constable features work that opens a dialog between the photographer and the Clark’s strong collection of both 19th century painters. On view through February 17th, 2025.
For more information, go to: https://www.clarkart.edu/microsites/abelardo-morell/exhibition-overview/about-the-exhibition
ROAD TRIP
Rhode Island

“Mayor White’s Seniors Prom, Boston, 1972” by Roz Gerstein, courtesy of the artist.
Dodge House Gallery at Providence Art Club – Roz Gerstein’s solo retrospective, That’s What Life Felt Like, includes several of her documentary series created across five decades, with a focus on feminist themes during times of dramatic social change. These are accompanied by the display of four large lay-flat books, each telling the story of one woman’s relationships in images and quotes, along with eleven figurative oil paintings. On view from February 16th – March 6th, 2025, there will be an Opening Reception with the artist on Sunday, February 16th from 2:00 – 4:00pm.
For more information, go to: https://providenceartclub.org/galleries/
Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts (RICPA), Providence – RICPA’s annual exhibit, Behind the Lens: Women in Photography, curated by by Grace Marie DeWitt in 2020, was only viewable online due to the COVID shutdown. Five years later, the same artists have been invited back into the gallery to show their newest work: Deb Ehrens, Grace Marie DeWitt, Molly Lamb and Jess Voas. On view from February 20th – March 14th, 2025, there will be an Opening Reception in the gallery on Thursday, February 20th from 5:00 – 8:00pm.
For more information about this exhibit, as well as the off-site exhibit “Re/vision Re/visited” on view from February 13th – March 15th nearby in The Atrium at the First Unitarian Church, go to: https://www.riphotocenter.org/category/exhibits/
Connecticut

Folded Cyantoype by Fritz Horstman, courtesy of the artist and the New Britain Museum of American Art.
New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain – In his solo show Valleys & Blue Light, Fritz Horstman experiments with cyanotype and folded paper to create sculptures inspired by the glaciers of Svalbard, ranging in size from a few inches to six feet. On view through March 30th, 2025.

“Double Mona Lisa” by Vic Muniz, from the exhibition Extra-Ordinary, courtesy of the artist and the New Britain Museum of American Art.
Also at the New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain – Using unconventional materials such as peanut butter and jelly, Brazilian born artist Vic Muniz builds tableaux before photographing them in Extra-Ordinary, on view through February 23rd, 2025.
For more information about both exhibits: https://nbmaa.org

“Buoyancy” by Anne Arden McDonald, 2011, unique cameraless gelatin silver print, installation photograph by Suzanne Révy.
Flinn Gallery, Greenwich Public Library, Greenwich – Curated by Caren Winnall, Camera-less showcases the work of Joanne Dugan, Amanda Beth Marchand, Anne Arden McDonald (above) and Liz Nielsen, artists who experiment with light, chemicals, objects and time on photo-sensitive paper in an inspiring exploration of camera-less photography. On view through March 5th, 2025.
For more information, go to: https://flinngallery.com/camera-less/
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

“Celebrations after the last prayers of Ramadan” by Gerald Annan Forson, 1980, Accra Ghana, courtesy of the artist and the Hood Museum.
Ongoing at Hood Museum, Hanover – Off Beat: Portraiture and Politics in the Photography of Gerald Annan Forson brings the tumultuous events of late 20th-century Ghana into focus. Annan Forson’s interest in both grand spectacle and quiet, intimate moments brings his work into dialog with important forebears such as Felicia Abbas and Malick Sidibé. On view through winter of 2025.
For more information: https://hoodmuseum.dartmouth.edu/explore/exhibitions/beat
Vermont

From the series A War on Us by Adeline Praud courtesy of the artist and the Vermont Center for Photography.
Vermont Center for Photography, Brattleboro – French photographer Adeline Praud takes a deep dive into the systems of mental health and transitional housing for those dealing with addiction in post-industrial rural areas of the United States. In A War on Us, she shines a light on both personal traumas and organizational fights against opioid use and the pharmaceutical companies that encouraged and benefited from addiction. On view through March 2nd 2025.
For more information, go to: https://vcphoto.org/adeline-praud-a-war-on-us/
Maine

“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 from February 14th through August 17th, 2025.
For more information: https://www.portlandmuseum.org/jo-sandman-skin-deep