By Elin Spring and Suzanne Révy
Welcome back, everyone! We hope you had a relaxing, restorative summer and feel ready to embrace the new season. The Boston photography scene is hopping with exciting exhibitions and events in September. To help you plan, we have listed our Best Picks geographically with receptions highlighted. We look forward to seeing you around town!
SOWA – Boston’s Art Gallery District in the South End
Gallery Kayafas – Tara Sellios returns to the gallery with her special brand of intellectual intensity and painstaking artistry in Infernalis, a powerhouse solo exhibition of photographs, drawings and installation, on view from September 6th – October 12th, 2019. There will be Artist Receptions on First Friday, October 4th, 2019 from 5:30 – 8:00pm. For our review, go to: https://whatwillyouremember.com/tara-selios-infernalis-at-gallery-kayafas-boston/
For information, go to: http://www.gallerykayafas.com/home/exhibitions/current/
Howard Yezerski Gallery – Boston-based photographer John Goodman’s solo exhibit Not Recent reaches into the past to bring together classic B&W and deliciously saturated color prints, brimming with humor and pathos. On view from September 6h – October 15th, 2019, there will be an Artist Talk on Saturday, September 21st, 2019 at 2:00pm. Read our review of Goodman’s recent show at the Addison Gallery of American Art: https://whatwillyouremember.com/john-goodman-not-recent-color-addison-gallery-of-american-art-andover-ma/
For information about this exhibit, go to: https://www.howardyezerski.com/
Kingston Gallery – Mary Lang’s solo exhibition Here, nowhere else uses landscape to convey a sense of simultaneous suspension and presence in the moment, with a sprinkling of wonderment. On view from September 4th – September 29th, 2019, there will be an Opening Reception with the artist on First Friday, September 6th from 5:00 – 8:00pm. For information, go to: http://www.kingstongallery.com/exhibitions/2019/september-mary-lang-here-nowhere-else.php
Photography SALON (at Adam & Co, 450 Harrison Avenue, Suite 304) – SALON is a pop-up showcase of photographic work by Claire Beckett, Justin Kimball, Camilo Ramirez and Brian Ulrich. SALON functions as a group studio visit where invitees can view works in progress, finished work and books by the artists, including the launch of Camilo Ramirez’s first monograph, Another Eternity. Light fare and libations will be served at this First Friday event on September 6th, 2019. For information, go to: https://www.facebook.com/events/2153652624938259/
THE FENCE – The largest outdoor juried exhibit of photography is still up in Boston’s South End! Enjoy great weather and great photography along Albany Street. Read Suzanne’s review in ArchitectureBoston magazine: https://www.architects.org/stories/immersion-therapy
BOSTON PROPER
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston – Viewpoints: Photographs from the Howard Greenberg Collection is a celebration of the recent acquisition of this exceptional collection by the MFA. One hundred fifty enduring and endearing photographs highlight some of the most remarkable images of the 20th century and the fascinating stories behind them. If you’re like us, you’ll be visiting many times while the show is on view through December 15th, 2019!
For the inside scoop on how the Howard Greenberg Collection landed in Boston, go to: https://whatwillyouremember.com/the-howard-greenberg-collection-comes-to-mfa-boston/
For a behind-the-scenes look at “Viewpoints” join Kristen Gresh, Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Senior Curator of Photographs for a talk on Thursday, September 19th, 2019 from 6:30-7:30pm. For tickets, go to: https://mfa.org/event/lecture/curator-talk-viewpoints?event=46796
For more information on the exhibit and associated programming, go to: https://www.mfa.org/exhibition/viewpoints
While at the MFA, Boston, don’t miss Make Believe, an exhibit of photographs inspired by fairy tales and its companion exhibit, Kay Nielsen’s Enchanted Vision, featuring his enchanting folk tale illustrations. The two shows embellish one another in a lively conversation across galleries. On view through January 20th, 2020. For our review, go to: https://whatwillyouremember.com/shadi-ghadirian-paolo-ventura-hellen-van-meene-nicholas-kahn-richard-selesnick-make-believe-at-mfa-boston/
For information about these exhibits, go to: https://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/make-believe
Robert Klein Gallery – Alex and Rebecca Norris Webb present their latest shared project Brooklyn: The City Within, on view from September 12th – November 3rd, 2019. Join the artists at an Opening Reception and Book Signing on Saturday, September 14th, 2019 from 2:00 – 5:00pm. For more information, go to: https://www.robertkleingallery.com/
Leica Gallery Boston – Concurrent and in partnership with Robert Klein Gallery, Alex and Rebecca Norris Webb present their lyrical 2017 shared project, Slant Rhymes, an imaginative, elliptical visual conversation, on view from September 12th – November 3rd, 2019. There will be a Reception, Artists’ Talk and Book Signing at Leica on Thursday September 12th, 2019 from 6:00 – 9:00 pm. For information or free tickets to the event, please RSVP to: https://leicagalleryboston.com/exhibitions/
Griffin Museum at Lafayette City Center Passageway – If you like the evocative conversation of “slant rhymes” (as above), you’re sure to appreciate In Your Mother Tongue: A Word and Image Dialogue, a large and lively group show of collaborations between photographers, poets, writers, and painters curated by Griffin Museum Executive Director Paula Tognarelli. On view only until September 14th, there will be a Closing Reception with many of the artists on Saturday, September 14th, 2019 from 4:00 – 6:00pm. For more information, go to: https://griffinmuseum.org/show/in-your-mother-tongue-a-word-and-image-dialogue/
Krakow Witkin Gallery – Shellburne Thurber’s solo exhibit Phantom Limb features an immersive installation of her photography exploring the “indirect but often more accurate” character revealed by the spaces where a person lives and works. Here, light itself becomes one of Thurber’s most ethereal and mesmerizing characters. On view from September 21st – November 2nd, 2019, there will be an Opening Reception with the artist on Saturday, September 21st, 2019 from 3:00 – 5:00pm. For more information, go to: https://www.krakowwitkingallery.com/exhibitions/
McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College – Drawing on its collection of documentary photographs made on the streets or in the subways of New York City, Alen MacWeeney and A Century of New York Street Photography employs imagery from pre-digital times to ignite discussion regarding today’s clash between surveillance and privacy. On view from September 9th – December 8th, 2019, the exhibit is curated by Karl Baden, Boston College professor and often-confronted street photographer. In conjunction with the exhibit, there will be a panel discussion organized by Karl Baden entitled When Everyone Has a Camera: Street Photography, the Right to Free Expression, and the Right to Privacy in the Internet Age on November 13th, 2019. For more information, go to: https://www.bc.edu/sites/artmuseum/exhibitions/macweeney/index.html?fbclid=IwAR04B7jpKFnvrrfbGruOpVHh_mLexBzf1PVNwa5Nq_Z1hDw8HenqX7j09rU
CAMBRIDGE and SOMERVILLE
Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge – Celebrate the opening of Crossing Lines, Constructing Home: Displacement and Belonging in Contemporary Art, a comprehensive multi-media exhibition featuring many photographs, on view September 6, 2019 through January 5, 2020. There will be a free, public Opening Reception TOMORROW, Thursday, September 5th, 2019 from 5:00 – 9:00pm, with a ticketed discussion led by Curators Makeda Best and Mary Schneider Enriquez at 6:00pm. For information and tickets, go to: https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/visit/calendar/opening-celebration-crossing-lines-constructing-home-displacement-and-belonging-in-contemporary-art
The Cooper Gallery at Harvard University – The Sound of My Soul presents a thorough retrospective of the jazz photography of Frank Stewart, curated by Ruth Fine. There will be a free, public Opening Reception on Monday, September 16th, 2019 from 6:00 – 8:00pm. For more information, go to: https://coopergallery.fas.harvard.edu/
Lunder Arts Center at Lesley University, Cambridge – In Transit is a multidisciplinary exhibit of photography, performance and filmmaking focusing on “the stories of immigrants who traverse the no-man’s land that exists between home and hope,” featuring the work of George Awde, Daniel Castro Garcia, Gohar Dashti, Tanya Habjouqa, and Stefanie Zofia Schulz. On view from September 3rd – October 13th, 2019, there will be a Panel Discussion with exhibit curator Peggy Sue Amison, visiting artist Gohar Dashti and independent photography scholar and curator Alison Nordström at 5:30pm, followed by an Opening Reception from 7:00 – 9:00pm on Thursday, September 12th, 2019. For more information, go to: https://lesley.edu/events/in-transit
Somerville Toy Camera Festival (STCF) – How much fun can you take? The STCF is back for the month of September, serving up delightfully alternative photography selected by 2019 guest juror Gordon Stettinius at three different venues. Enjoy opening festivities over the weekend on Saturday, September 7th and Sunday, September 8th (including a solo exhibit reception for Gordon Stettinius at the Griffin Museum in Winchester) and a host of events throughout the remainder of the month. For all the details, go to: http://www.somervilletoycamera.org/exhibitions
Bridge Gallery, Cambridge – Photographer and gallery owner Greig Cranna presents Sky Architecture, featuring a selection of his photographs made in the past three years of some the world’s most spectacular bridges. On view from September 14th – October 26th, 2019, there will be an Opening Reception on Saturday, September 14th from 5:00 – 9:00pm. For information, go to: https://www.bridge.photos/shows
Photographic Resource Center (PRC), Cambridge – PRC Member Invitational exhibition Between Thinking and Dreaming features photographs “exploring change and loss, blockage and maturity, love and endings” by Jake Belcher, Sage Brousseau, Jo Ann Chaus, Daniel Jackson, and Jess Voas (above). Curated by Jen Barrows and EMKB, the show will be on view from September 16th – November 1st, 2019 with an Opening Reception on Friday, September 20th, 2019. For information, go to: https://prcboston.org/whats-happening/
THE BURBS
Peabody Essex Museum (PEM), Salem – Order of Imagination:The Photographs of Olivia Parker features a broad selection of the photographer’s wonderfully experimental and impressively inventive “still-life” photographs spanning her forty-plus year career, on view through November 11th, 2019. For our review, go to:https://whatwillyouremember.com/order-of-imagination-photographs-of-olivia-parker-at-peabody-essex-museum-salem-ma/
For information about the exhibit and associated events, go to: https://www.pem.org/exhibitions/order-of-imagination-the-photographs-of-olivia-parker
On view at PEM through May 17th, 2020, A Lasting Memento: John Thomson’s Photographs Along the River Min presents 1870’s photographs by the Scottish ex-patriot with an inspired contemporary reply from Chinese photographer Luo Dan, prompting inevitable comparisons to our current trade relations with China. For our review, go to: https://whatwillyouremember.com/a-lasting-memento-john-thomsons-photographs-along-the-river-min-at-peabody-essex-museum-salem-ma/
For more information about the exhibit, go to: https://www.pem.org/exhibitions/a-lasting-memento-john-thomsons-photographs-along-the-river-min
Griffin Museum at Greater Boston Stage Company, Stoneham – Combining individual images creates stories, both those intended by the artist and those imagined by the viewer. In DoubleTake, guest curators Elin Spring and Suzanne Révy (yes! that’s us) have selected work by twelve outstanding photographers whose imagery in a variety of photographic genres, moods and formats suggests more than one meaning. On view from September 12th – November 13th, 2019, there will be an Opening Reception with many of the artists on Tuesday, September 17th, 2019 from 6:30 – 8:00pm. We invite you to come do your own double take! For information, go to: https://griffinmuseum.org/show/doubletake/
Danforth Art, Framingham – On view through October 13th, 2019, Populuxe features work by photographers Sean Sullivan and Steven Duede who apply “visual decadence” to material objects like cars (Sullivan, above) and homes (Duede) in ways both glamorous and disquieting. On view through December 30th, 2019, Dressed features the work of six contemporary artists in a range of media – including photographers Nancy Grace Horton and Marky Kauffmann – whose work explores the complex meanings engendered when covering the body. Danforth Art invites the public to an Opening Reception for the Fall Exhibitions on Saturday, September 7th, 2019 from 6:00 – 8:00pm. For information, go to: https://danforth.framingham.edu/exhibition/opening-reception-for-the-fall-exhibitions/
Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg – Photographers Sage Sohier and David Hilliard create a powerful combined exhibition in Our Parents, Ourselves, wherein images of each artist’s same-sex parent created over decades not only tell stories of physical and psychological changes but resonate with universal truths about parental relationships and aging. On view from September 7th, 2019 – January 5th, 2020, there will be an Opening Reception with the artists on Saturday, September 21st, 2019 from 3:00 – 5:00pm.
For information, go to: https://fitchburgartmuseum.org/sohier-hillard/
Ipswich Museum, Ipswich – Bill Franson’s hand-crafted solo exhibit Landscape in Blue brings a tranquil, otherworldly sensibility to the arboreal splendors of Appleton Farms on Boston’s North Shore. On view through October 14th, 2019. For our review, go to: https://whatwillyouremember.com/bill-franson-landscape-in-blue-at-ipswich-museum-ma/
For more information, go to: https://ipswichmuseum.org/2017/12/13/summer-exhibit-2018/
The Garner Center at NESOP, Waltham – Camilo Ramirez’s solo exhibit The Gulf features photographs from his 5000 mile exploration of the entire U.S. Gulf Coast, revealing its inhabitants’ often contradictory reverence for and abuse of their natural resources. On view from September 26th – October 26th, 2019, there will be an Opening Reception on October 1st, 2019 from 6:00 – 7:30pm. For information, go to:https://www.nesop.edu/events/the-garner-center/
Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Wellesley – The Museum presents its recent acquisitions by two up-and-coming women photographers: Haley Morris-Cafiero and Habiba Nowrose (above). Each offers new takes on self-portraiture, posing for the camera to confront societal expectations around body image and identity. Curated by Carrie Cushman, the Linda Wyatt Gruber ‘66 Curatorial Fellow in Photography, the exhibit will be on view from September 13th – December 15th, 2019. For more information, go to: https://www.wellesley.edu/davismuseum/whats-on/upcoming/node/166206
ROAD TRIP! Regional exhibits of note.
Rhode Island Center for the Photographic Arts (RIPCA), Providence, R. I. – Last chance to catch three exhibits on view through Friday, September 13th, 2019! The Second Annual Juried Members’ Exhibition features selections by guest juror Yorgos Efthymiadis (photographer and founder of The Curated Fridge), solo exhibit The Last Farmhouse Guest by Elizabeth Graham, and solo exhibit Descendants by JP Terlizzi (above). Join JP Terlizzi for an Artist Talk on Wednesday, September 11th, 2019 from 6:00 – 8:00pm. For gallery hours, directions and information, go to: https://www.riphotocenter.org/category/exhibits/current/
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT – This is your last chance to view Be Seen: Portrait Photography Since Stonewall, exploring how artists have used portrait photography to challenge, subvert, and play with societal norms of gender and sexuality in the 50 years since the revolutionary Stonewall riots of 1969. On view through September 15th, 2019, for information, go to: https://www.thewadsworth.org/be-seen-portrait-photography-since-stonewall/
Ogunquit Museum, Ogunquit, Maine – Exploring the physical and emotional boundaries of the senses, Eating Flowers: Sensations of Cig Harvey, features photography, video, mixed media and the written word in dreamlike narratives inspired by the artist’s life in Maine over the past ten years. On view through October 31st, 2019, for information, go to: https://ogunquitmuseum.org/exhibition/eating-flowers-sensations-of-cig-harvey/