by Elin Spring and Suzanne Révy
The evidence seems overwhelming. Even in the face of treacherous suffering, people cling to hope. It is a particular hallmark of artists to both grapple with their personal struggles or broader societal conflicts and somehow offer a glimmer of light. As we start a New Year in the midst of strife at home and abroad, it is inspiring to see photographers offering their expressions of enlightenment and beauty, often in the unlikeliest of places. As always, we bring your attention to the exhibits and events around metro Boston and beyond, listed geographically for your planning convenience. Please do check back throughout January, as we update our listings throughout the month.
SOWA – Boston’s South End Arts District
“Misty” 2021 by Kristen Joy Emack, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.
Gallery Kayafas – Three solo shows champion a diverse cross-section of unsung heroes: Kristen Joy Emack’s “Book of Saints” celebrates the stirring resilience of Cambridge, MA residents facing the challenges of gentrification; Cheryle St. Onge’s “My Mother, My Atlas” is a poignant reverie created during their role reversal in the waning years of her mother’s life; and Jack Lueders Booth’s “Inherit the Land” documents the struggles and joys of a Mexican community who live and work in the garbage dumps of Tijuana. On view January 5th – February 10th, 2024, there will be an Opening Reception with the artists on First Friday, January 5th from 5:30 – 8:00pm.
NOTE! The gallery is hosting “Cookies, Cider, Conversations with exhibiting photographers Jack Lueders-Booth, Cheryle St. Onge, and Kristen Joy Emack on Saturday, January 27th, 2024 from 3:00 – 5:00pm. No registration necessary, free and open to the public.
To read our review, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/kristen-joy-emack-cheryle-st-onge-and-jack-lueders-booth-solo-photo-shows-at-gallery-kayafas-boston/
For more information, go to: https://www.gallerykayafas.com/
“Untitled” by Cheryle St. Onge, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.
From the series and book Inherit the Land by Jack Lueders Booth, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.
“Tilted Horizon” 2022, oil on transferred photo emulsion on cast Hydrocal plaster by Elaine Spatz-Rabinowitz, courtesy of the artist and Anderson Yezerski Gallery, Boston.
Anderson Yezerski Gallery – Elaine Spatz-Rabinowitz’s solo show “Sublime Vestiges” features her translucent photographs of the Arctic laid over pigmented, destroyed and rebuilt plaster casts, which she embellishes with oil paint glazes to express the precarious state of our shifting geography due to climate change. Her luminous pieces are a gorgeous gut-punch, on view from January 5th – February 10th, 2024. An Opening Reception with the artist is on First Friday, January 5th from 5:00 – 8:00pm.
For more information, go to: https://andersonyezerski.com/
“Saint Christopher” 2009 by S. Billie Mandle, courtesy of the artist and Abakus Projects, Boston.
Abakus Projects – S. Billie Mandle’s photographs in her solo show “Reconciliation” are quiet contemplations on faith. On view from January 5th – January 28th, 2024, there will be an Opening Reception with the artist on First Friday, January 5th from 6:00 – 8:30pm.
NOTE: There will be an Artist Talk and Closing Reception on Sunday, January 28th, 2024 at 2:00pm. Free and open to the public.
For more information, go to: https://www.abakusprojects.com/
BOSTON PROPER
Paul Mpagi Sepuya “Darkroom Mirror Study” 2017. Photograph, digital inkjet print. Gift of Roberta R. and David M. Weinstein. Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston – “Creative Spaces: The Photographer’s Studio as Inspiration” takes viewers behind the curtain in a gathering of the idea incubators and working environments of 20th and 21st century photographers who employ a range of approaches to the medium, including multiple exposures, photo collages, cyanotypes, Polaroids, and digital prints. On view through April 28th, 2024.
To read our review, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/creative-spaces-the-photographers-studio-as-inspiration-group-show-at-museum-of-fine-arts-boston/
For more information, go to: https://www.mfa.org/exhibition/creative-spaces-the-photographers-studio-as-inspiration
Stephen Shames, Oakland, California: Kathleen Cleaver, Communications Secretary and first female member of the Party’s decision-making Central Committee, talks with Black Panthers from Los Angeles who came to the “Free Huey” rally in DeFremery Park (named by the Panthers Bobby Hutton Park) in West Oakland (detail), 1968. Archival pigment print. Gift of Lizbeth and George Krupp. © 2023, Stephen Shames. Courtesy of MFA, Boston.
Also on view at MFA, Boston – “Comrade Sisters: Women of the Black Panther Party” gathers twenty-seven photographs by Stephen Shames that document the efforts these women undertook at community schools, free medical clinics, voter registration sites, community nutrition programs, and elder care centers across the United States, recalling and underlining their importance to the civil rights movement. On view through June 24th, 2024.
For more information, go to: https://www.mfa.org/exhibition/comrade-sisters-women-of-the-black-panther-party
“Lynching Tree” 2013, by British filmmaker Steve McQueen during the filming of “Twelve Years A Slave,” courtesy of the artist and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum – This single color photograph mounted in a lightbox depicts an old tree with thick, sprawling branches in a clearing littered with leaves and engulfed by scrawny saplings. Only the title of the image reveals that the tree was used as a gallows for enslaved Black people, their unmarked graves beneath it. The installation of this image is the focal point for a program, “Reckoning with History: Art, Landscape & Memory,” featuring scholars and artists Steve Locke, Karilyn Crockett, Sara Zewde and Margaret Burnham in conversation with Lee Pelton of the Boston Foundation, on Thursday, January 25th, 2024 from 7:00 – 8:30pm. The installation will be on view from January 20th – February 4th, 2024.
For program information and/or tickets, go to: https://www.gardnermuseum.org/calendar/reckoning-history-art-landscape-and-memory
For information about the exhibit, go to: https://www.gardnermuseum.org/calendar/steve-mcqueen-lynching-tree
Boston Athenaeum – Photographer Toni Pepe layers the tension between the pleasures of parenting, its enormous physical toll, and the cultural and psychological demands of “good mothering” in her solo exhibition Mothercraft. Employing discarded press images found on Ebay and at flea markets, Pepe holds them up to the light and re-photographs from the back side so that the bias-laden handwritten press notes appear as an overlay on the shadow image. With images dating from 1903 to as recently as 1997, Pepe has amassed a visual compendium of shifting 20th century motherly tropes. On view through May 7th, 2024.
NOTE: On Monday, January 29th at 6:00pm, there will be a conversation between artist Toni Pepe and exhibit curator Dr. Lauren Graves, followed by an Opening Reception. For free registration, go to: https://community.bostonathenaeum.org/s/events
To read our review of this work in an October 2022 exhibit, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/toni-pepe-an-ordinary-devotion-lisa-rosowsky-othering-jane-szabo-family-matters-at-danforth-art-in-framingham-ma/
For more information abut this exhibit, go to: https://bostonathenaeum.org/visit/exhibitions/mothercraft/
“The Future Passed #16” 2023 by Arne Svenson, courtesy of the artist and Robert Klein Gallery, Boston.
Robert Klein Gallery – As the fight to control firearms or liberalize gun laws rages on in Congress, photographer Arne Svenson has mounted his own call to arms with his piercing ongoing series, The Future Passed. Guided by gun-violence data, Svenson locates fatal incident addresses and, via internet imagery, “photographs” the scenes, framing his view from the street, in a manner similar to real estate listings. Absent people, cars, or any signs of life, Svenson cleverly hijacks the viewer’s imagination with a terrifying sense of premonition, as he accompanies each image with a written description of the violence that has yet to occur within. On view through February 3rd, 2024.
For more information, go to: https://www.robertkleingallery.com/exhibitions/77-the-future-passed-arne-svenson/
“Untitled” from How Easily We Are Undone by Jennifer McClure, courtesy of the artist and Leica Gallery Boston.
Leica Gallery Boston – In her solo exhibition How Easily We Come Undone, photographer Jennifer McClure explores with poignancy and cinematic drama her personal struggles, longings and hopes amidst new motherhood and the pandemic’s social upheavals. On view through January 28th, 2024.
NOTE: There will be an Artist Talk, conversation with Jennifer McClure and curator/educator Anabel Vázquez Rodriguez, and Closing Reception on Saturday, January 27th, 2024 from 2:00 – 4:00pm. Free and open to the public.
To read our review, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/jennifer-mcclure-how-easily-we-are-undone-at-leica-gallery-boston/
For more information about this exhibit, go to: https://leicagalleryboston.com/
“Black Sunflower and Sky” by Greg Heins, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.
Griffin Museum at Lafayette City Center (LCC) Passageway – What better way to hoist yourself out of the winter doldrums than with the group exhibit Planting Roots, Growing Community, featuring projects by four photographers who focus on community gardens and family farms: Fall in the Garden by Greg Heins (above), Living Like Grass by Ellen Harasimowicz, A Year Above the Gardens by John Rich, and Community Gardens By Leann Shamash. Their photographs of shared landscapes express not only a fervent connection to the the land but a kinship with the communities that thrive there. On view from January 22nd – April 14th, 2024.
For more information, go to: https://griffinmuseum.org/show/planting-roots_lcc/
Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones in concert by Ted Gartland, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston.
Panopticon Gallery – From the 1970’s to the present, Boston Globe photographer Ted Gartland has chronicled every concert performed here by the Rolling Stones. His dynamic images are on view in All Down the Line: The Rolling Stones in Boston, on view through February 14th, 2024.
For more information, go to: https://www.panopticongallery.com/ted-gartland
SOMERVILLE and CAMBRIDGE
Somerville Museum – “Museo Inmigrante” showcases the stories of ten immigrant families who share their experiences about their journey to the US, why they decided to leave, and what their journey was like. Photographs of the families by Iaritza Menjivar and Mario Quiroz are accompanied by interviews conducted by exhibit curators Ivan Abarca-Torres and Marta Fuertes and appear in Spanish, Portuguese and English. The ten featured families also contributed a variety of mementos and photographs from the local immigrant community have been arranged into a photo wall, as is common in many Latin American homes. On view from January 11th – March 23rd, 2024, there will be an Opening Reception Thursday, January 11th from 6:00 – 8:00pm.
NOTE: Due to the overflowing crowds during the Opening Reception, the exhibit curators will be hosting walk-through tours TOMORROW, Saturday, January 20th, 2024. Space is limited and registration is required.
Tour in English from 10:00 – 11:00 am: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/museo-inmigrante-curator-tour-english-tickets-797337135837?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=
Tour in Spanish and Portuguese from 11:00am – noon: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/museo-inmigrante-tour-del-curador-espanolportugues-tickets-799974734967?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=
For more information about the exhibit and associated programming, go to: https://www.somervillemuseum.org/museo-inmigrante
“A girl waits, in the early morning, to change into her costume, Huanghuayu Village, Shaanxi Province (Shaanxi series No.1)” 2007, by Zhang Xiao, courtesy of the artist and Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology at Harvard University – Photographer Zhang Xiao examines the effects of modernization on Chinese culture through the transformation of Shehuo: Community Fire, a traditional spring festival held in rural northern China that coincides with the Lunar New Year. Zhang, the 11th recipient of the Peabody Museum’s Robert Gardner Fellowship in Photography, documents the ancient festivities in 2007 and its commercialization a decade later in 2018 & 2019 with vivid and thought-provoking imagery. Accompanied by a book and additional programming, this English/ Chinese bilingual exhibit is on view through April 14th, 2024.
To read our review, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/zhang-xiao-shehuo-community-fire-reflects-a-changing-china-at-harvards-peabody-museum-in-cambridge-ma/
For more information about the exhibit and associated programming, go to: https://peabody.harvard.edu/shehuo-community-fire
For information about the Aperture book, go to: https://aperture.org/books/zhang-xiao-community-fire/
THE BURBS
President Ford meets with the press on the lawn in front of the White House by David Hume Kennerly, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.
Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester – In the Room Where it Happened: A Survey of Presidential Photographers shows the inner workings of those in the highest echelons of power, featuring official White House photographers Shealah Craighead, Eric Draper, Michael Evans, Sharon Farmer, David Hume Kennerly, Bob McNeely, Yoichi Okamoto, Adam Schultz, Pete Souza, David Valdez and staff photographer Joyce Boghosian. On view from January 12th – March 31st, 2024.
NOTE: There will be a Panel Discussion with some of the photographers starting at 2:00pm followed by an Inaugural Reception on Saturday, January 20th from 4:00 – 6:00pm. Register here: https://griffinmuseum.org/event/prez_reception/
To read our review, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/white-house-photos-of-presidents-at-griffin-museum-of-photography-ma-in-the-room-where-it-happened-a-survey-of-presidential-photography/
Geraldo Rivera and the press cover President Clinton in China by Jeffrey Aaronson, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.
Also at the Griffin Museum, Jeffrey Aaronson: The President and the Press features pictures made of the press following the staging, itinerary and structure of an overseas trip to China by then President Bill Clinton. On view from January 12th – March 31st, 2024.
Bill Chapman’s Illuminating the Archive continues through January 31st, 2024.
For more information, go to: https://griffinmuseum.org
“Apponegansett V, 2014” Quaker Meetinghouse by Jean Schnell, courtesy of the artist.
Barrington Center for the Arts at Gordon College, Wenham – Four photographers explore the idea of place in ‘the There, there” from distinctive and captivating perspectives: Nubar Alexanian’s sweeping B&W panoramas of Gloucester express an Armenian-American’s tribute to his adopted home; Bill Franson’s B&W images explore the towns bordering the Mason-Dixon Line and the socioeconomic implications of this politically-drawn separation; David Herwaldt’s photographs riff on his nomadic life as a long-haul trucker; and Jean Schnell (photo) honors the light and calm imbedded within the silent traditions of Quaker Meetinghouses. On view from January 20th – March 2nd, 2024.
NOTE: on Saturday, January 20th, there will be an Opening Reception from 4:40 – 6:30 pm, including a Panel Discussion with the artists at 5:30pm.
For more information, go to: https://www.gordon.edu/gallery
“Untitled 6341” by Torrance York, 2020, from the series and book Semaphore, courtesy of the artist, Rick Wester Fine Art, NYC and the Danforth Art Museum.
Danforth Art Museum, Framingham – Torrance York’s Semaphore is a nuanced meditation on quotidian details, created in response to her diagnosis with Parkinson’s Disease. In images inviting spiritual contemplation, York has found a way not only to cope, but to thrive in the face of a difficult life challenge. On view through January 28th, 2024.
NOTE: On Sunday, January 21st at 3:00pm, Learning and Engagement Coordinator, Katherine Tako-Girard, will moderate a discussion about Parkinson’s and Creativity with Torrance York and developmental neuropsychologist, David H. Rose, EdD. For information and free registration, go to: https://danforth.framingham.edu/event/sunday-spotlight-creativity-and-the-brain/
To read our review: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/torrance-york-semaphore-at-danforth-art-museum-in-framingham-ma/
For more information about the exhibit: https://danforth.framingham.edu
The panAFRICAproject by Lou Jones at Milton Academy, Milton, MA.
Nesto Gallery, Milton Academy, Milton – Lou Jones’ sweeping panAFRICAproject’s mission is to create a contemporary visual portrait of modern Africa. Jones writes of photography and this project: “Photography can transcend time and distance. It goes beyond censorhip, frontiers, borders, and removes the blinders of xenophobia. Photography so easily interprets complex things, ideas, and concepts. Photography is the next best thing to being there.” Opens with a reception from 5:30 to 7:00pm on January 11th and will be on view through February 22nd, 2024.
For more information: https://www.milton.edu/arts/nesto-gallery/
“Agricultural Panel B” by Archy LaSalle, DSI Digital Silver Print, courtesy of the artist and the Fitchburg Museum of Art.
Fitchburg Art Museum (FAM), Fitchburg- The museum features two multi-media shows with a large selection of photographs in each one. The first is Dialogues, Diasporas, and Detours Through Africa which includes photography by Archy LaSalle, George Annan, Lou Jones and Sharon Dunn in dialog with some of the museum’s collection of African sculpture and textiles. The second show, Capital Vice: Politics of the Seven Deadly Sins includes photographs from the collection by several local photographers such as Greer Muldowney and Barbara Norfleet, among others. LAST CHANCE! On view through January 14th, 2024.
For more information, go to: https://fitchburgartmuseum.org/exhibitions/
From the series Zoomorphics by Shelby Meyerhoff, courtesy of the artist and the Wallace L. Anderson Gallery at Bridgewater State.
Wallace L. Anderson Gallery, Bridgewater State, Bridgewater – Zoomorphics, Shelby Meyerhoff’s solo exhibit of extraordinary self-portraits, explores human connections with flora and fauna of the natural world. Her vibrant embodiments underline both our bonds and frailty with eye-popping vivacity. On view through February 21st, 2024.
NOTE: There will be an Artist Talk on Wednesday, January 24th, 2024 at 5:30pm. Free and open to the public.
For more information, go to: http://www.bsuarts.com/MeyerhoffS.htm
A crew member stands on the crosstrees of the schooner Lettie G. Howard during a Mayor’s Cup schooner race. The Howard, the Adventure, and the Roseway are three Essex built schooners, September 1, 1997. Photograph by Josh Reynolds. Gloucester Daily Times Collection of the Cape Ann Museum Library & Archives, Gloucester, MA. Gift of The North of Boston Media Group, 2021
Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester – It has been said that newspapers are the first draft of history, and their archives can function like a time capsule of regional stories. The Gloucester Daily Times has covered the Cape Ann region for over a century and the paper’s owner, North of Boston Media Group, has donated their photography archive to the museum. To celebrate this recent acquisition, they are presenting Above the Fold: Photographers of the Gloucester Daily Times, 1973 to 2005, on view through March 17th, 2024.
For more information: https://www.capeannmuseum.org/exhibitions/above-fold-photographers-gloucester-daily-times-1973-2005/
ROAD TRIP!
Connecticut
“Crush & Pull with Hands, Penlights, & Spruce Needles” 2023, by Ellen Carey, courtesy of the artist, JHB Gallery, NYC, Galerie Miranda, Paris, and New Britain Museum of American Art, CT.
New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain – Ellen Carey: Struck by Light is a sweeping retrospective of Carey’s pioneering explorations of light, color, and shadow. Works include dazzling examples of her Polaroid 20 X 24 lens-based images and large-scale camera-less photograms that demonstrate Carey’s boldly experimental approach to image-making. On view through January 28th, 2024.
For more information about the exhibit, go to: https://nbmaa.org/exhibitions/ellen-carey-struck-by-light
Rhode Island
The walls await a new exhibition, courtesy of the Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, Providence, RI.
Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts (RICPA), Providence – The “5th Annual Member’s Juried Show,” judged by Jessica Burko, features photographs by Christine Acebo, Robin Bailey, Becky Behar, Sharon Bibeault, Sally Bousquet, Angela Brown, Ronald Butler, Bill Clark, Marcy Cohen, David Current, Casey Dana, Mark Dixon , Jean Duffy, Charles Eastman, Deb Ehrens, John Fell, John Femino, Kristie Gardiner, Brooke Hammerle, John Heller, Bonnie Jaffe, Donald Johnson, Margaret Kauffmann, Joni Lohr, George Lowell, Linda Megathlin, Ralph Mercer, Paul M. Murray, Reed Pike, Keith Prue, Margaret Rizzuto, Terry Rochford, Sean Sullivan, Pip Shepley, Joseph Smith, Donna St Amant, Dennis Stein, Kelsey Swanson, Matt Temple, Carrie Usmar & Martha Wakefield. On view from January 18th – February 9th, 2024, there will be an Opening Reception with some of the artists on Thursday, January 18th from 5:00 – 8;00pm.
For more information, go to: https://www.riphotocenter.org/call-for-entries-5th-annual-juried-members-exhibition/
Maine
“Daytime, Owl’s Head, Maine” by Jon Tobiasz, courtesy of the artist and Cove Street Arts, Portland, ME.
Cove Street Arts, Portland – The photographers represented in Mind over Matter curated by Bruce Brown seek to find the tension between abstraction and representation. Participating artists are Elizabeth Root Blackmer, Hugh Blackmer, JC Camelio, Arnie Hoffman, Michael Kolster, Susan Partridge and Jon Tobiasz. LAST CHANCE! On through January 13th, 2024.
For more information, go to: https://www.covestreetarts.com
Unknown, Emancipation Day, Jamaica, August 1, circa 1895, two gelatin silver prints, 11 9/16 × 9 7/16 inches. Art Gallery of Ontario. Gift of Patrick Montgomery, through the American Friends of the Art Gallery of Ontario Inc., 2019. Photo © AGO. 2019/2704.
Portland Museum of Art, Portland – By bringing contemporary works into conversation with historic photographs from the Art Gallery of Ontario’s (AGO) Montgomery Collection of Caribbean Photographs, Fragments of Epic Memory immerses visitors in the Caribbean and its diaspora. The exhibition engages personal memory and myth through past and present works of art curated by Julie Crooks, PhD, Curator, Arts of Global Africa and the Diaspora at the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Portland Museum of Art’s Anjuli Lebowitz, PhD, the Judy Glickman Lauder Associate Curator of Photography. LAST CHANCE! On view through January 7th, 2024.
For more information, go to: https://www.portlandmuseum.org/fragments
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