Best Photo Picks March 2022

By Elin Spring and Suzanne Révy

March can be frustratingly chilly in New England, and the news lately has been stressful, but there are plenty of new and ongoing photography exhibits to warm your spirits! We list and describe them here, arranged geographically for your planning convenience. As always, links to each show are included. Please be sure to check with venues about hours and health policies before you go. Circumstances can change rapidly, but hopefully in the right direction going forward. We wish you safe and inspiring March photo adventures!

BOSTON PROPER

From the exhibit Real Photo Postcards: Pictures from a Changing Nation on view at MFA, Boston.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston – In 1903, Eastman Kodak Company introduced the “postcard camera” which allowed users to produce pictures both rapidly and inexpensively. This spurred an ongoing postcard craze and hastened the end of a Victorian photographic formality. Suddenly pictures of everything from train wrecks to silly antics were plentiful, inadvertently providing a chronicle of how America was growing and changing in the early 20th century. Featuring more than 300 works drawn from the MFA’s Leonard A. Lauder Postcard Archive, this exhibition will be on view from March 12th  – July 25th, 2022.

For more information, go to: https://www.mfa.org/exhibition/real-photo-postcards

From the exhibition Dawoud Bey: Night Coming Tenderly, Black by Dawoud Bey, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Also at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston – Dawoud Bey: Night Coming Tenderly, Black imagines the routes traveled by escaped enslaved people as they traveled nights through northeast Ohio seeking freedom. Bey’s low key moody prints carry viewers through marshes, dark woods, quiet back yards en route to Lake Erie. On view in the Frances Vrachos Gallery / Mary Stamas Gallery (Gallery 148).

For more information: https://www.mfa.org/gallery/dawoud-bey-night-coming-tenderly-black

“Election Victory Party aboard the SS Great Britain, Bristol, England, 1988” from the series The Cost of Living, © Martin Parr, Magnum Photos.

McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College – Martin Parr: Time and Place is the first major U.S. museum survey for the Magnum photographer, featuring over 135 works and an extensive collection of photobooks, curated by Karl Baden. With an emphasis on four decades of images from Ireland, his vivid social documentary photographs made throughout  Europe, North America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia underline Parr’s signature documentary style of juxtaposing feelings of familiarity and alienation in a colorful and often humorous anthropological study of humanity. On view through June 5th, 2022.

To read our review, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/martin-parr-time-and-place-at-mcmullen-museum-of-art-at-boston-college-ma/

For information about the exhibit and associated programming, go to: https://www.bc.edu/sites/artmuseum/exhibitions/parr/

“Bona III, ISGM, Boston, 2019” from the series Being Muholi by Zanele Muholi, courtesy of the artist, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York and Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town/ Johannesburg.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum – Spanning galleries in both the historic and new building, Being Muholi: Portraits as Resistance features B&W self-portraits from Zanele Muholi’s ongoing series Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness and selected portraits from Brave Beauties, depicting the artist’s South African chosen family. Muholi’s unique photographic vision conveys intimacy and vulnerability while challenging identity politics and validating Black queer identity. These works are accompanied by the artist’s new colorful paintings and bronze sculptures, along with poetic responses by Boston Poet Laureate, Porsha Olayiwola. On view through May 8th, 2022.

For more information, go to: https://www.gardnermuseum.org/calendar/exhibition/being-muholi

“Light” 2017 by Olga Merrill, courtesy of the artist.

The Griffin Museum at Lafayette City Center – Color Theory group show gathers imagery that recognizes the profound ways that color shapes our emotions. Curated by Crista Dix, Executive Director of the Griffin Museum, the selection also celebrates our emergence from a lengthy pandemic and winter. On view from March 18th – June 13th, 2022, with an Artist Reception on May 15th from 2:00 – 4:00pm.

For information about planned events, go to: https://griffinmuseum.org/show/color-theory/

“Superhero” from the series Before Self-Consciousness by Laurie Swope, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA.

Panopticon Gallery in Kenmore Square – First Look 2022 is the gallery’s annual juried presentation of portfolios “that employ the complexities of their subject, and provide context that give richness and meaning that is more than the sum of its parts.” Panopticon Imaging’s Alexa Cushing and Brandon Dunning selected submissions by Diane Hemingway and Miranda Schmitz, expressing metaphors for inner worlds, Allison Plass and Laurie Swope (above), focusing on the domestic sphere, and Bamby, “the empty nester” whose cinematic scenarios strain with emotional pathos. On view through March 28th, 2022.

To read our review, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/first-look-at-panopticon-gallery-boston-ma/

For more information, go to: https://www.panopticongallery.com/first-look-2022-1

Grid of 6 (12” x 8”) images from A Beautiful Day by Arne Svenson, courtesy of the artist and Robert Klein Gallery, Boston.

Robert Klein Gallery – In his latest series, A Beautiful Day, Arne Svenson restricts his picture making to two windows in his New York City apartment, one facing north and the other west. With this intentional constraint, Svenson creates inventive abstractions from the details, movements and gestures of those whose actions he can observe. On view through March 19th, 2022 by appointment.

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

SOWA – Boston’s South End Arts District

“Asia Calling,” a photographers notebook 1980-1997 by Ed Grazda, courtesy of the artist and Abakus Projects, Boston.

Abakus Projects – New to SoWa, Abakus is a modern dealer in 20th century and contemporary fine art photography, hosting exhibitions of contemporary artists’ work during the first Friday of each month. Asia Calling is a selection from Ed Grazda’s empathetic documentary work in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Vietnam spanning 1980-1997. Disasters of War features Khalid Hadi’s stunning box-camera portraits of Afghan soldiers who were injured during the war with USSR and the factional fighting that followed. Starting with an Opening Reception on First Friday, March 4th, 2022 from 6:00 – 8:30 pm, the gallery will be open Saturday & Sunday, March 5th and 6th, 2022 from 11:00 am – 5:00 pm and thereafter through the end of March by appointment.

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

“Boy Choir, 1993” from the series Heart in the Wound by Lisa Kessler, courtesy of the artist and Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston.

Howard Yezerski Gallery – Issues of sexual violence and abuse of power sadly persist, giving Boston-based documentary photographer Lisa Kessler’s work enduring resonance. Heart in the Wound: Sexual Abuse from the Catholic Church to Civil Society dredges up the trauma and drama of Boston’s crisis of faith some two decades later. On Saturday, March 26th, 2022 at 1:00 pm, join photographer Lisa Kessler, activist Kathy Dwyer and artist S. Billie Mandle in a conversation at More Than Words Bookstore just a short walk from the gallery. The exhibit concludes at 5:00 pm that day and guests are encouraged to visit the gallery before or after this event to view the exhibit.

For more information, go to: https://www.howardyezerski.com/lisa-kessler-artist-talk

CAMBRIDGE & SOMERVILLE

Feature Image: Anneliese Hager, German, Broken Beams, 1953. Gelatin silver print (photogram). Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Gift of the German Friends of the Busch-Reisinger Museum, 2018.324.   Estate of Anneliese Hager. Image courtesy of Harvard Art Museums;   President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge – “White Shadows: Anneliese Hager and the Camera-less Photograph” showcases the photograms of an accomplished and influential surrealist artist. An inventive naturist and poet, Anneliese Hager (German, 1904-1997) created over one hundred photograms, many of which were lost to the bombing of Dresden in 1945. The Harvard Art Museums recently acquired 29 of these rare prints and places them into context with work by 19th century predecessors like Anna Atkins, famous for her cyanotypes of plants, as well Hager contemporaries, including Marta Hoepffner and László Moholy-Nagy. On view from March 4th – July 31st, 2022.

For more information about the exhibit and associated programming, go to: https://harvardartmuseums.org/exhibitions/6120/white-shadows-anneliese-hager-and-the-camera-less-photograph

THE BURBS

Georgia O’Keefe, “Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium)” 1964–68, black-and-white Polaroid, courtesy of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, courtesy of the Addison Gallery of American Art.

Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA – Primarily known as a painter of flowers, skyscrapers, animal skulls and the southwestern desert, Georgia O’Keefe had a lifelong interest in photography. This exhibition is the first to examine the role of photography in her artistic practice. Featuring nearly one hundred rarely seen prints, the images reveal her interest in modernist form, texture, light and shadow. For context, the Addison will be exhibiting work by one of O’Keefe’s teachers, Arthur Wesley Dow and an accompanying series of photogravures from Camera Work, the early 20th century magazine published by her husband, the photographer Alfred Stieglitz. On view through June 12th, 2022.

For more information: https://addison.andover.edu/Pages/default.aspx

“Beauty Way” by Bill Franson, courtesy of the artist, Danforth Art and Gallery Kayafas, Boston, MA.

Danforth Art Museum, Framingham, MA – Five Years of Aspect Initiative brings the online gallery “Aspect Initiative” created by Steven Duede in 2016, into the real world. Each month, the online gallery would showcase the work of one artist along with a short curator’s essay, amassing a collection of over thirty of the brightest contemporary New England based photographers. This physical show will underscore the breadth of our region’s photographic practice and will be on view from March 26th – June 5th 2022. An in-person opening reception is planned for Saturday March 26th from 6:00 – 8:00 pm, registration required, here.

For more information: https://danforth.framingham.edu/see-art/

“Carmi, IL” 2012 by Frank Armstrong, courtesy of the artist, the Fitchburg Art Museum and Gallery Kayafas, Boston, MA.

Fitchburg Art Museum – In American Roadsides, we are treated to recent color imagery by veteran photographer Frank Armstrong, whose discerning eye and droll sensibility pinpoint cultural markers through revealing landscapes. Armstrong’s influence and legacy are further demonstrated by the inclusion of photographs by seven of his students: Russell Banks, Sarah Bilotta Belclaire, Rachel Loischild, Greer Muldowney, Jasper Muse, Eric Nichols, and Catherine Wilcox-Titus. On view through June 5th, 2022.

To read our review, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/american-roadsides-frank-armstrongs-photographic-legacy-fitchburg-art-museum-ma/

For more information, go to: https://fitchburgartmuseum.org/american-roadsides-frank-armstrongs-photographic-legacy/

Photograph ©Stephen Tourlentes, courtesy fo the Davis Museum, Wellesley, MA.

The Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA – Organized by Aperture Foundation, Prison Nation  explores how photography records the toll of mass incarceration on American society. The group exhibition includes work by Stephen Tourlentes (above), Zora Murff, Lucas Foglia, Deborah Luster and Chandra McCormick, among others. The museum recently re-opened to the public and this show will be on view through June 5th, 2022.

For more information, go to: https://www.wellesley.edu/davismuseum/whats-on/current/node/189951

Barkley L. Hendricks, Self-Portrait with a Black Hat, 1989–2013. Digital c-print. © Barkley L. Hendricks. Courtesy of the artist’s estate and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

The Rose Museum at Brandeis University, Waltham – The painter Barkley L. Hendricks (1945-2017), renowned for his “tender and immaculate” life-size portraits of people of color, liked to refer to his photographs as “my mechanical sketchbook.” Barkley L. Hendricks & Photography highlights the significant role of photography in the artist’s practice, illuminating relationships between photographs, Polaroids, prints and paintings. On view through July 24th, 2022.

For information about the exhibit and associated programming, go to: https://www.brandeis.edu/rose/exhibitions/2022/barkley-hendricks.html

“Karen” from the series and book Major Arcana by Frances Denny, courtesy of the artist and ClampArt, NYC.

Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA– As a descendent of both the accusers and those accused of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, photographer Frances Denny explores the face of modern American witchcraft in Major Arcana, her series of portraits including healers, artists and tarot readers across a spectrum of identities and spiritual practices. Thirteen of Denny’s portraits are featured in an expansive show at PEM, “The Salem Witch Trials: Reckoning and Reclaiming” on view through March 20th, 2022.

For more information about the exhibit, go to: https://www.pem.org/exhibitions/the-salem-witch-trials-reckoning-and-reclaiming

María Magdalena Campos-Pons, When I am Not Here/ Estoy Allá, Identity Could Be a Tragedy, 1995-1996. Composition of 6 Polaroid Polacolor Pro 20×24 in photographs. Framed: approx. 26x22in each (66×55.9 cm). © María Magdalena Campos-Pons. Purchased through the Eliza S. Paine Fund. Image courtesy of the artist. 2003.4

Worcester Art Museum (WAM) – Addressing identity as a socio-political issue has been a central theme for artists since the 1970s. Us Them We | Race Ethnicity Identity addresses ways that contemporary artists accentuate concepts like race and ethnicity through various visual strategies. Co-curated by Nancy Kathryn Burns, Stoddard Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs at WAM, and Toby Sisson, Associate Professor and Program Director of Studio Art at Clark University, the exhibit features over 50 objects across a broad spectrum of media including photography by artists including María Magdelena Campos-Pons and Lorna Simpson, along with prints, painting, and sculpture. On view through June 19th , 2022.

For more information, go to: https://www.worcesterart.org/exhibitions/us-them-we/

ROAD TRIP

Rhode Island

Courtesy of the Rhode Island Center for Photography.

Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts (RICPA), Providence – Making Pictures from Plants: Contemporary Anthotypes, is co-curated and includes prints by Jesseca Ferguson and Mary Kocol. The exhibit will feature work by Lindsey Beal, Edd Carr, Caleb Cole, Nettie Edwards, Christine Elfman, Elizabeth Ellenwood, Brittonie Fletcher, Matthias Hagemann, Paweł Kula, Scott McMahon, Marek Noniewicz, John Opera, Francis Schanberger and DM Witman. On view from March 17th – April 15th, 2022 with an Opening Reception planned for March 17th, 2022 from 5:00 – 8:00 pm. 

For hours, policies and event information about both exhibits, go to: https://www.riphotocenter.org

“Salt Evaporation Pond #4, Palo Alto, CA” 2019 © Neal Rantoul, courtesy of the artist.

Newport Art Museum, Newport – Above/Below multi-media group show features works from the museum’s permanent collection, curated by Megan Horn.  Offering thought-provoking, altered perspectives of our world, the exhibit includes work by photographers Neal Rantoul (above), Jesse Burke, Lucas Foglia, Sally Gall, Henry Horenstein, Salvatore Mancini, and Aaron Siskind, among others. On view through April 24th, 2022.

For more information, go to: https://newportartmuseum.org/exhibitions/above-below/

New Hampshire

A trio of portraits by Henry Horenstein, courtesy of the artist and 3SArtSpace, Portsmouth, NH.

3S Artspace, Portsmouth, NH – An offering from the versatile Henry Horenstein, a series of  portraits, Where Everybody Is Somebody. On view through March 20th, 2022.

For more information: https://www.3sarts.org/gallery/where-everybody-is-somebody

Maine

“Untitled” c. 1959 by Ralph Eugene Meatyard, courtesy of the Colby College Museum of Art.

Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville – Act of Sight: The Tsiaras Family Photography Collection features 150 images from this important 2020 gift to the museum, including work by Ralph Eugene Meatyard (above) and a veritable hit parade of masters from the Modernists to Magnum. On view through August 14th, 2022.

For more information, go to: https://museum-exhibitions.colby.edu/exhibition/act-of-sight-the-tsiaras-family-photography-collection/?fbclid=IwAR3AGap3kMv4HSpMq27fH2cRzTLruwlXGqSwpiW3M2jeHPtXwejwJX319Es