Invitation
“You who have meant to come, come now
With strangeness on the morning snow
Before the early morning glow
Makes half the snowy strangeness go.
You who have meant to come, come now
When only your footprints will show
Before the overburdened bough
Spills snow above on snow below
You who have meant to come, come now
If you were meant to come, you’ll know.”
~ Robert Francis (1901-1987)
By Elin Spring
One photographer poses questions while another seeks sanctuary in two solo photography exhibits about the significance of place at Gallery Kayafas in Boston’s South End. In his probing series Mason Dixon: American Fictions, Bill Franson journeys to alien terrain in the American south, an area steeped in national history and fraught with contradictions that he captures with an incisive outsider’s eye. Bruce Myren’s contemplative series, Fort Juniper, conveys deep emotional connections to the area surrounding his childhood home in Amherst, MA as he meanders through whispering forests along the Mill River to the woodland cottage of late poet Robert Francis. In addition, Vanessa Leroy’s imaginative cyanotype memoir there’s a place I want to take you is being held over in the alcove gallery. All three exhibits are on view through November 28th, 2020.
“American Spirit, Waynesboro, PA”, 2016, from the series Mason Dixon: American Fictions by Bill Franson, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.
“Fayette City, PA” 2017, from the series Mason Dixon: American Fictions by Bill Franson, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.
Bill Franson’s Mason Dixon: American Fictions asks a litany of questions. The crisp focus and long tonal range of the square format, B&W photographs transmit documentary clarity. However, Franson’s cunning compositions reveal the fascinating contrasts imbedded in this historically dichotomous region. The Mason-Dixon Line is the demarcation between the northern and southern United States, a border that once represented the difference between slavery and freedom for southern Blacks. Once home to thriving farms, factory towns, coal country and suburbs, a changed US economy has altered its fabric. Many districts have emptied and fallen into disrepair, leaving impoverished communities who place hopeful symbols of faith and patriotism everywhere.
“Mill Run, PA” 2017, from the series Mason Dixon: American Fictions by Bill Franson, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.
“Jackson and Lee Pedestal, Harriet Tubman Grove, Baltimore, MD” 2017, from the series Mason Dixon: American Fictions by Bill Franson, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.
Franson finds revelations in juxtaposition: a tobacco store Indian mascot flanked by a flag and a cross; the fanciful geometric interplay of a church with directional signs in a commercial district; cows grazing in a field sporting a wind turbine; and a solemn park site absent it’s memorial to Confederate heroes. Graffiti, signage, and reflections also imply disparities, as in the smiling bevy of racially integrated mannequins staring out at a vacant main street. Whether in the smattering of older American-made luxury cars, the bittersweet nostalgia of a dilapidated riverside picnic area, or a selection of endearing individual portraits, Franson’s Mason Dixon queries the abiding spirit of a storied American region straddling its past and a new era.
“Federalsburg, MD” 2018, from the series Mason Dixon: American Fictions by Bill Franson, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.
“Peachbottom, PA” 2019, from the series Mason Dixon: American Fictions by Bill Franson, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.
Fort Juniper wall of photographs with hand-drawn Mill River by Bruce Myren, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston (Installation view by Elin Spring).
Clockwise from top Left: “A Bend in the River (Winter)” 2009; “A Bend in the River (Summer)” 2012; “A Bend in the River (Late Winter)” 2015; “A Bend in the River (Spring)” 2020, from the series Fort Juniper by Bruce Myren, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston (Installation photo by Elin Spring).
Fort Juniper feels like the processing of memories, a re-tracing of the past in the present. Bruce Myren lets the landscape speak volumes, exploiting the selective focus of his 8”x 10” view camera to capture the depth of nature, place and time. In a gathering of four frames, he pictures the same river bend in each season, revealing at once the unique and the enduring in an unending cycle of nature. Another photograph focuses on a fragile but assiduous tangle of vines clinging to a stalwart tree trunk in a poignant allegory for the human condition. An image of the Mill River reminds us that still waters run deep.
“Tree Twine Vine” 2009, from the series Fort Juniper by Bruce Myren, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.
Feature Image: “Mill River (View 2)”, 2012, from the series Fort Juniper by Bruce Myren, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.
Although shot in color and in every season, Myren’s palette remains subdued, his eye drawn to caressing light and deep shadow. Images of the poet Robert Francis’ modest cottage are hushed and reverential, the light gentle, window views peering within while reflecting surrounding woods through geometric panes. Myren, too, seems to be looking at once inward and outward on an intimate and devoted journey. His soulful perspective beckons an equal measure of self-reflection.
“Fort Juniper” 2013, from the series Fort Juniper by Bruce Myren, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.
“Looking Through Fort Juniper” 2009 from the series Fort Juniper by Bruce Myren, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.
Myren’s Fort Juniper meditates on home and memory while Franson’s Mason Dixon plumbs the mysteries of a historically riven territory. Both artists employ a deliberative approach, using either medium or large format film capture and re-visiting the areas over many years. Although their photographs are very different, each reveals the deep human desire to feel connected, expressed through the lens of place. Vanessa Leroy’s there’s a place I want to take you taps into the same intangible qualities of yearning. In considering the lure of place through three moving viewpoints, Gallery Kayafas heightens our sense of wonder.
Installation view of cloth cyanotypes from the book there’s a place i want to take you, 2019 by Vanessa Leroy, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas (photo by Elin Spring).
To read our review of Vanessa Leroys’ there’s a place i want to take you, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/committed-to-memory/
For information about this exhibit, accompanying programming and gallery hours and policies, go to: https://www.gallerykayafas.com/
Share On Facebook
Tweet It
