By Elin Spring and Suzanne Révy
Finally, winter has succumbed to spring in New England! We encourage you to indulge your impulse to embrace the glory of the season by – what else? – exploring the latest photography exhibits and events. As always, we have arranged listings geographically, for your planning convenience and invite you to check back regularly for updates and additions throughout May.
BOSTON PROPER
“Church Windows, Albemarle, VA” 2000, by Frank Poor, courtesy of Krakow Witkin Gallery, Boston.
Krakow Witkin Gallery – Mixed-media artist Frank Poor literally re-frames our window on the world in a beguiling variety of scaled photographic constructions. Hand-crafted windows, doors and even a miniature model home host images encompassing views both through and reflected in photographed windows, along with shadows of these images and the actual wall behind them. Poor’s mellifluous combination of familiar scenes and clever distortions invite us to imagine alternate worlds. His sculptural works are accompanied by a series of photogravures that extend the view that “memory exists somewhere between artifact and invention.” On view through June 7th, 2025.
For more information, go to: https://www.krakowwitkingallery.com/exhibitions/
From the series Soul Reflection by Cheriss May, courtesy of Leica Gallery Boston.
Leica Gallery Boston – Cheriss May’s solo exhibition Soul Reflection is an introspective journey that reflects the soul’s complexity, using the metaphor of flowers— particularly hydrangeas— as a symbol for growth and change. On view through June 1st, 2025.
In addition, the gallery is hosting a series of Artist Talks, including:
Rania Matar on Wednesday, May 7th from 5:30 – 7:00pm
Amani Willett on Wednesday, May 14th from 5:00 – 7:00pm
Reuben Radding on Saturday, May 24th from 12:00 – 2:00pm
For more information, go to: https://www.instagram.com/leicagalleryboston/
X-Ray Cyanotype by Bryan Whitney, courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography.
Griffin Museum Gallery at Lafayette City Center (LCC), Downtown Crossing – Elemental Blues: Contemporary Cyanotypes explores the ways that six artists today utilize the ancient, archival method of “blue printing” to express creative new imagery. Featured artists are: Anna Leigh Clem, Brett Windham, Bryan Whitney (above), Julia Whitney Barnes, Sally Chapman and Cynthia Katz. On view through June 30th, 2025, there will be a Reception with some of the artists on Saturday, May 17th from 2:00 – 4:00pm.
For more information about this exhibit and associated programming, go to: https://griffinmuseum.org/show/elemental-blues-contemporary-cyanotypes/#more-show-text
From the series Circumference by S. Billie Mandle, courtesy of the artist and the Boston Atheneaum.
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/
From the series Otherworldly by Raquel Fornasaro, courtesy of the artist.
Media Art Gallery at Emerson Contemporary – The group exhibit MOVEMENT/S “explores the dynamic between motion and stillness” in our current, dizzying world, utilizing a broad range of media including analog and digital photography, photo sculpture/installation, interactive video and projection, 3D scanning, and experimental animation. The special sauce here is that the exhibition was curated by 14 Emerson undergraduate students as part of a Visual Media Arts course, “Curating Contemporary Art,” taught and led by Leslie K. Brown, PhD. The jury selected 14 “boundary-pushing” emerging artists from the Greater Boston area whose work asks viewers “how we navigate periods of flux, confront stagnation, and ultimately move forward.” A timely show, for certain. LAST CHANCE! On view through May 3rd, 2025
For more information, go to: https://emersoncontemporary.org/event/emerson-contemporary-presents-movement-s/
“Paris
,Folding Chair” by Robert Frank (American, born in Switzerland, 1924–2019), Photograph, gelatin silver print, 1949,
Gift of The June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation
© The June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation, courtesy of the 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/
NOTE: When visiting, don’t miss a selection of photographs from the MFA’s marvelous archives, on view in the museum’s Rotunda!
For more information, go to: https://www.mfa.org/exhibition/robert-frank-marys-book
GREATER BOSTON – Cambridge and Somerville
Feature Image: “Of Hybrids and Other Things” 2016, from Castaway: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, awardees 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 May 17th, 2025 – April 6th, 2026.
NOTE: A public conversation with the artists and an exhibition preview event will be presented on Thursday, May 15, 2025 at 6:00pm. The conversation, with Madeline Murphy Turner, Emily Rauh Pulitzer Curatorial Fellow in Contemporary Drawings, Harvard Art Museums, will take place in Spanish with English translation available.
For more information, go to: https://peabody.harvard.edu/news/2024/03/castaway-afterlife-plastic-open-harvards-peabody-museum-may-17
Photographic Resource Center (PRC), Cambridge – In an exhibition curated by Catherine LeComte Lecce, PHOTO/FACULTY presents the work of fifty-two photography faculty members from fourteen institutions, in celebration of these inspiring artists who mentor the next generation of photographers. (Photo © David Hilliard) On view through May 17th, 2025.
For more information, go to: https://www.prcboston.org/photo-faculty/
SomArt Space at the Somerville Armory – Developed by Neuroscientist and photographer Joshua Sarinaña, Mental Mapping is an experimental, collaborative project that draws on the connections between between art, science, technology, and community engagement. Large Language Models such as ChatGPT are utilized to chart a participant’s cognitive networks and investigate connections between them and their environments, both physical and virtual. On view to explore and/or participate through June 22nd, 2025.
For more information, go to: https://www.joshuasarinana.com/mental-mapping
THE BURBS
“Portrait at 35” by Jiyeon Sung, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.
Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester – New Horizons: Contemporary Korean Photography introduces New England audiences to seven contemporary Korean photographers who document and interpret their dynamic and changing society, broadly exploring themes of longing and loss. Curated by Joanne Junga Yang, the exhibition features Ok Hyun Ahn, Seongyoun Koo, Anna Lim, Soosik Lim, Hyundoo Park, Jiyeon Sung (above) and Sun Hi Zo. On view through June 29th, 2025.
NOTE: Special Programming includes:
In-Person Reception with some of the Artists on Friday, May 9th from 6:00 – 8:00pm.
In-Person Artist Panel: Sun Hi Zo & Soosik Lim in conversation with exhibit curator Joanne Junga Yang on Saturday, May 10th from 2:30 – 4:00pm.
In-Person Event: Korean Cultural Night: Korean Cultural Society of Boston presents an evening of culture, music and festivities at the Griffin Museum on Saturday, May 10th from 5:30 – 7:30pm.
For more information: https://griffinmuseum.org/show/koreancontemporary25/
To read our review: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/new-horizons-contemporary-korean-photography-at-griffin-museum-in-winchester-ma/
“Egg, Pancakes and Yarn” by Astrid Reischwitz, from the series The Taste of Memory, courtesy of the artist.
Concord Art, Concord – Astrid Reischwitz shows her recent series, The Taste of Memory which pays homage to the kitchen traditions of her family through still-life photographs made in her small hometown in Germany. Narratives of Time And Nature: Rebecca Mann + Astrid Reischwitz presents the work in dialog with painter Rebecca Mann. LAST CHANCE! on view through May 4th, 2025.
For more information: https://concordart.org/exhibition/rebecca-mann-astrid-reischwitz/
Dawoud Bey “The Birmingham Project: Taylor Falls and Deborah Hackworth, 2012,” Archival pigment prints mounted to dibond, Collection of Andrew Z. Scharf (PA 2002), 3.2021.1.1a,b
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover – Drawing on its extensive photographic archive, museum Director Allison Kemmerer has curated Dynamic Duo, an exhibit that considers the relationships and interactions of two beings sharing space, whether they be romantic partners, family members, close friends, rivals, strangers, or interspecies companions. On view through July 31st, 2025.
To read our review, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/dynamic-duos-group-photo-show-at-addison-gallery-of-american-art-in-andover-ma/
For more information, go to: https://addison.andover.edu/exhibition/dynamic-duos/
“Backhand II” (left), “Rouse” (center), “Backhand I” (right) by Hannah Altman from the exhibition As It Were, Suspended in Midair. (Installation photograph by Suzanne Révy)
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 through June 12th, 2025.
To read our review: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/as-it-were-suspended-in-midair-by-hannah-altman-kniznick-gallery-brandeis-university-waltham-ma/
For more information: https://www.brandeis.edu/hbi/artist-program/index.html
CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS
“Rebecca, Aquinnah, MA, August 19th, 2012” by Stephen DiRado, from the Beach People series, courtesy of the artist and the Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA.
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 also features a projection of his 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.
To read our review: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/stephen-dirado-better-together-four-decades-of-photographs-at-fitchburg-art-museum-in-ma/
“Vinea” 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 January 18th, 2026.
To read our review: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/ask-now-the-beasts-tara-sellios-at-fitchburg-art-museum-in-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/
CAPE COD
Photograph by Kevin McKeon, courtesy of The Workspace Gallery, Eastham, MA.
The Workspace Gallery, Eastham – Feeling the urge to protest recent events? This exhibit will inspire you. Photographer Kevin McKeon’s Good Trouble: To the Streets bears witness to the collective resistance of our time—Black Lives Matter protests, Women’s March, LGBTQ+ pride movements, and the rising surge of “Hands Off” demonstrations. With raw urgency and striking intimacy, McKeon shows people fighting injustice, demanding dignity, and as the late John Lewis urged, making “good trouble.” There will be an Opening Reception from 5:00 – 7:00pm and Artist Talk beginning at 6:30pm, on Friday May 16th, 2025 .
For more information, go to: https://bobkornimaging.com/contact/
ROAD TRIP!
Rhode Island
“Stop, Sells, AZ” by Matt Temple from the exhibition Take the Next Exit: Matt Temple, courtesy of the artist and the Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, Providence, RI.
Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, Providence – Two shows to look for, a member’s show juried by Emily Belz and Take the Next Exit: Matt Temple. Based in Boston, Temple has been traveling with his daughter, who lives in Arizona, to explore the American southwest, discovering the patina of age on relics along old Route 66 and near the Mexican border. Both shows will be on view through May 9th, 2025.
For more information, go to: https://www.riphotocenter.org/
Later this month at Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, Providence – the 11th International Exhibition juried by Zora J. Murff and Rana Young featuring Olajide Adeleke, Eddy Aldana, Duygu Aytac, Emma Backer, Marina Bezrukova, Christa Blackwood, Ronald Butler, William Camargo, Marisa Colesis, Daniel Cosentino, Nicholas Dantzer, Maia Demar, Chris Diani, Sharon Draghi, Cindy Elizabeth, Jon Feinstein, Dean Forbes, Kendall Gilliam, Kris Graves, Dimitriy Gushchiin, Eric Guzman, David Hebb, Jamie Holland, Jerrie Hurd, Miles Jordan, Jessica Just, Alec Kaus, Ken Konchel, Alison Lake, Catherine LeComte Lecce, Victoria Manning, Andy Mattern, Daniel McInnes, Sarah Meftah, Hector Membreno-Canales, Yong Min Park, Dustin Nguyen, Brooks Plummer, Alkaid Ramirez, Steve Rappaport, David Rowell, Jonah Saffran-Johnson, Anastasia Shik, Katie Singleton, Colin Smith, Emma Sobel, Quincey Spagnoletti, Michael Stenta, JW Toftness, Thomas Whitworth, Shea Wilt, Sonnie Wooden & Shuyuan Zhou. Opens with a reception from 5 to 8pm on May 15th, and on view through June 13th, 2025.
For more information: https://www.riphotocenter.org/coming-may-15th-11th-international-exhibition/
Portraits of the Precious Earth by Donna Bassin, installation view courtesy of the artist.
Newport Art Museum, Newport – Photo-based landscapes, installations and videos explore the environmental crisis and its emotional toll in Portraits of the Precarious Earth by Donna Bassin. Employing layers, Bassin erases political boundaries of maps to create a narrative of global responsibly. Her use of ephemera such as photo corners, thread and Japanese washi tape probe the tension between the wounds we are inflicting on the earth and the potential for healing. The artist selected 19th century paintings from the museum’s collection to emphasize concerns for the environment by earlier practitioners. LAST CHANCE! On view through May 5th, 2025.
For more information: https://newportartmuseum.org/exhibitions/donna-bassin-portraits-of-the-precarious-earth/
Connecticut
“Miriam Diale, 5357 Orlando East, Soweto, 18 October 1972” by David Gaoldblatt 1972, printed later. Carbon ink print. Yale University Art Gallery, Purchased with a gift from Jane P. Watkins, M.P.H. 1979; with the Leonard C. Hanna, Jr., Class of 1913, Fund; and with support from the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library © The David Goldblatt Legacy Trust
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven – David Goldblatt: No Ulterior Motive is a major retrospective of the late South African photographer featuring works from the 1950’s to the 2010’s. Culled from two major repositories of his work at Yale University and the Art Institute of Chicago, the exhibition features early black and white pictures along with post-apartheid large format color images. Also included, photographs by several of Goldblatt’s peers, such as Ernest Cole, Santu Mofokeng, and Jo Ractliffe, in addition to a a generation of younger South Africans, many of whom Goldblatt mentored, including Lebohang Kganye and Zanele Muholi. On view through June 22nd 2025.
For more information: https://artgallery.yale.edu/exhibitions/exhibition/david-goldblatt-no-ulterior-motive
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
Maine
“A Way She Could Become” from the series Heard by Sal Taylor Kydd, courtesy of the artist.
The Parsonage Gallery, Searsport – Combining photography, poetic text, and alternative processes, Sal Taylor Kydd’s solo exhibit Heard probes themes of memory and belonging through women’s voices. Using antique vernacular photographs in her exquisitely crafted assemblages, Kydd evokes both an elegy and invocation, calling forth the voices of mothers, daughters, ancestors, and strangers to re-imagine voices lost to history. On view from May 3rd – June 22nd, 2025, there will be an Opening Reception with the artist on Saturday, May 3rd from 4:00 – 6:00pm.
For more information, go to: https://parsonagegallery.org/exhibitionschedule/heard-sal-taylor-kydd
“#127” by Joan Fitzsimmons, 2015 from the series Small and Large Thoughts, courtesy of the artist and the Maine Museum of Photographic Arts.
Maine Museum of Photographic Arts, Portland – The group exhibit Trace features ten photographers who explore the relics and imprints that ask the question, “what remains when something is gone?” Featuring Jodi Colella, Joseph Podlesnik, June Kim, Sarah Hood Salomon, Drew Harty, Joan Fitzsimmons, Sarah Stites, John Pelletier, Carolin Savage and Frank Lopez. On view through May 31st, 2025. Artist talks are planned for May 16th.
For more information: https://www.mainemuseumofphotographicarts.org
“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 through August 17th, 2025.
For more information: https://www.portlandmuseum.org/jo-sandman-skin-deep
Vermont
“Dancer #16, Pauline Koner” by Lotte Jacobi, 1937.
Vermont Center for Photography, Brattleboro – Presence: The Photographic World of Lotte Jacobi brings together prints from private collections and the archive of the photographer’s work at the University of New Hampshire. Lotte Jacobi (1896-1990) was a prolific photojournalist and portrait photographer known for her dramatic black and white prints of artists, dancers and actors, along with ordinary men and women. Her humanist approach to picture making endows her images with sensitivity, pathos and grace. On view from May 2nd through June 29th, 2025.
For more information: https://vcphoto.org/exhibits/current/
“Mermaid Moon” by David Sokosh, from the exhibition Blueprint of a Collection, courtesy of the artist and the Shelburne Museum.
Shelburne Museum, Shelburne – Using a large format camera and the cyanotype process, artist David Sokosh explores the Shelburne’s collection of American ephemera. Honoring the vision of the museum’s founder Electra Havemeyer Webb, Blueprint of a Collection: Cyanotype Photography by David Sokosh presents the collection with his fresh, inventive imagery. On view from May 10th – October 26th, 2025.
For more information: https://shelburnemuseum.org/exhibition/blueprint-of-a-collection/
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