Best Photo Picks February 2026

By Elin Spring and Suzanne Révy

Are you feeling unhinged by the snow and ICE? We invite you to come in from the cold. Let these February photography exhibits and events absorb your disquiet, expand your horizons, and perhaps even offer some hope. As always, we arrange our listings geographically for your planning convenience and encourage you to check back throughout the month for updates and additions.

BOSTON PROPER

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

Leica Gallery Boston – In her solo exhibit, “Ephemeral Field Journal,” Sarah Schorr, photographer and Visual Artist-in-Residence at Harvard’s Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR), presents work initiated in Claude Monet’s garden in Giverny, France, in Aarhus, Denmark and on Walden Pond in Massachusetts. Her images in the series “Peace Studies” reflect the evanescent nature of temperature shifts, water clarity, plant life, and environmental disturbances in elegant composite photographs of flowers from Monet’s Garden with site specific watercolors. Her series “The Color of Water” and “Skywater”  are meditations on the transient essence of water as a metaphor for life. On view through March 22nd, 2026. 

To read our review, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/sarah-schorr-ephemeral-field-journal-skywater-and-the-color-of-water-at-leica-gallery-boston-ma/

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

 

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” (above), 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 First Look is First Look: A Second Glance, shown at The Wall at Panopticon Gallery. This selection of small-scale, unframed prints offers a place for compelling additional submissions that offer an entry point for early collectors. On view from February 12th – April 27th, 2026, there will be an Opening Reception for both exhibits on Thursday, February 12th from 6:00 – 8:00pm.

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

 

Pucker Gallery – In a tribute to the late photographer Tony King (1934-2017), “A Singular Journey” celebrates his graceful and precise imagery across genres, not only capturing a moment but reflecting the attentive and empathetic eye of this prolific artist. On view through March 8th, 2026.

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

 

Griffin Museum at Lafayette City Center (LCC) – “As Above, So Below” features the work of two photographers: Jessica Hays’ (above) series The Sun Sets Midafternoon – Wildfires in the America West is an exploration of the immediate aftermath of megafires on surrounding communities, interweaving narratives to describe their ecological devastation and emotional trauma. Melinda Hurst Frye’s (below) series Regeneration investigates ecological cycles of the understory of the Pacific Northwest, often near ground level and below, employing a flatbed scanner as a camera to discover vestiges of regenerative growth following wildfires. On view from through March 30th, 2026.

For more information, go to: https://griffinmuseum.org/show/as-above-so-below/

 

CAMBRIDGE

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.” On view through April 6th, 2026.

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

 

THE BURBS

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, there will be an opening reception for all three exhibits on Saturday, February 7th from 6:00 – 8:00pm.

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

Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester – To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States, the museum is planning a year-long series of four exhibitions called State of the Union. They begin with Manifest Destiny, addressing the 18th and 19th century notion of our inevitable expansion into a vast “empty” western terrain. Reinterpreted through contemporary sensibilities, the Main Gallery show features landscape photographs by Craig Easton (above), Drew Leventhal, Lisa Elmaleh, Rich Frishman, Scott Conarroe and Victoria Sambunaris. Expanding this theme are solo shows by John Willis from his series View from the Reservation and Mni Wiconi in the Griffin Gallery and Austin Bryant’s Where They Still Remain in the Griffin Atelier Gallery. On view through March 15th, 2026. 

NOTE: There will be an online Artist Talk with John Willis and Austin Bryant on Thursday, February 26th, 2026 from 6:30 – 8:30pm. To Register, go to: https://griffinmuseum.org/event/online-artist-talk-john-willis-and-austin-bryant/

To read our review of the Main Gallery exhibit, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/manifest-destiny-scott-conarroe-craig-easton-lisa-elmaleh-rich-frishman-drew-leventhal-victoria-sambunaris-griffin-msueum-of-photography-winchester-ma/

To read our review of the Atelier Gallery and Griffin Gallery exhibits, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/who-is-american-austin-bryant-john-willis-in-manifest-destiny-griffin-museum-of-photography-winchester-ma/

For more information: https://griffinmuseum.org

DeMenil Gallery, Groton School, Groton, MA – From 2020 through 2024, photographer Deborah Bai-Lannon served as a volunteer photo documentarian for the Home Base Veterans and Family Program, based in 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. The 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

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 from February 6th – May 24th, 2026.

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

 

Nesto Gallery at Milton Academy, Milton – Renowned Boston-based photographer Lou Jones has not only photographed people and cultures all over the globe in both the fine art and commercial realms, but he has mentored many students and interns who have gone on to great careers of their own. The group show Influence is a family reunion of sorts, with exceptional images curated by Lou Jones in a gathering of the artists who have gleaned his guidance in their photographic journeys. On view through March 4th, 2026. 

For more information, go to: https://www.milton.edu/arts/nesto-gallery/

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

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-opned with the ongoing show Ask Now the Beasts by  Tara Sellios with an artist talk planned for February 7th from 2 to 3pm, and 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

 

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. A reception with the artist is planned for February 21st from 5:30-7:30pm, and is currently on view. 

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

 

ROAD TRIP!

Maine

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 February 6th – June 7th, 2026.

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

 

Bates Museum of Art at Bates College, Lewiston – “Shelburne Thurber: Full Circle” is a focused retrospective containing threads that are present throughout many of Thurber’s projects spanning from the 1970s to today. The exhibit contextualizes the ways in which Thurber has visualized interior work that is private, domestic, psychological, or insular. On view through March 21st, 2026.

For more information, go to: https://www.bates.edu/museum/shellburne-thurber-full-circle/

 

Vermont

Vermont Center for Photography, Brattleboro – “Icons in Hand: Masterworks from Local Collections” features iconic photographs from local private collectors, affording visitors an opportunity to see vintage prints and how the photographic object itself can convey a deeper meaning about the picture. The exhibition is co-curated by Joshua Farr and Mitch Weiss and 0n view through March 1st, 2026. 

For more information, go to: https://vcphoto.org/icons-in-hand/

 

Connecticut

New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain – Norman Rockwell: From Camera to Canvas brings together the photographic studies and ephemera that Rockwell referenced for his many illustrations over a forty year career. With over seventy photographs, tear sheets and paintings, visitors will find how this detailed-oriented illustrator used photographs to fine tune the expressive qualities of each painting. LAST CHANCE! On view through February 15th, 2026.

For more information: https://nbmaa.org

 

 

Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford – Gerald Incandela uses a unique darkroom process to blend photography, drawing and painting. In Gerald Incandela: Photographic Drawings the artist creates abstract forms, shapes and imagery to create rich and painterly compositions. On view through March 8th, 2026. 

For more information: https://www.thewadsworth.org/explore/on-view/gerald-incandela/

Also on view at Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford –Invented in France by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, the Daguerrotype became widely used for portraiture in the 1840’s, but a few early photographic practitioners such as Sam Bemis and James Presley Ball made landscapes with the difficult process. The Scenic Daguerrotype in America 1840-1860 showcases 83 precious examples from a private collection offering a rare look at the 19th century American landscapes. On view through March 22nd, 2026.

For more information: https://www.thewadsworth.org/explore/on-view/scenic-daguerreotype/