Family Album

By Elin Spring and Suzanne Révy

Don’t you just love a good mystery? Given clues, some misleading, we’re lured into deciphering a web of alliances and conflicts that lead to “the truth.” Perhaps it is this sense of mystery that makes family albums so irresistible. Whether our own, the families of photographers or those anonymous subjects in found pictures, we feel naturally inclined to create a story. And just as every portrait is a self-portrait, each narrative is inevitably shaped by what the viewer brings to it. Such fascinating dialogs are beckoning in Family Album, curator Barbara Hitchcock’s selection of marvelous photographs by Judith Black and Bjorn Sterri. Intimacies, Long Lost features curator Parker Thompson’s rare and intriguing found family photographs of 20^th century Black Americans. These exhibits are on view at the Griffin Museum in Winchester, MA through February 26^th, 2023, along with Point/ Counterpoint, James Lustenader’s response to images from the Arthur Griffin archive and the 13^th Annual Photobook Exhibition, co-curated by Davis Orton Gallery and Griffin Museum.

Installation view of photographs by Judith Black in Family Album. (photo by Elin Spring, with apologies for reflections).

Barbara Hitchcock (former Curator of The Polaroid Collection) deserves a standing ovation for Family Album. In it, she presents a plum selection of family portraits by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Judith Black (b. 1945) and Oslo, Norway-based Bjorn Sterri (b.1960), highlighting their entrancing and distinctive styles. But beyond that, we are shown how these artist’s similarities and differences accentuate their unique perspectives and serve as shining examples of how portraits can captivate, cast spells, and open secret worlds to us. Just like a good mystery.

Installation view of photographs by Bjorn Sterri in Family Album (photo by Elin Spring, with apologies for reflections).

Both Black and Sterri embrace the timeless quality of B&W film photography, large format cameras, and to varying degrees Polaroid technology, in their family portraits. Judith Black starts her photographic journey with a questioning portrait of her pregnant 22 year-old self and evolves into a single mother of four with a steadfast partner who fills the role of step-dad. Bjorn Sterri, who was adopted at age 3 and a half, weaves his own missing history into formally staged portraits of his tightly knit family of four. These divergent backgrounds set the stage for intriguing, observable differences in environment, culture, and personality in the family portraits of these remarkable artists.

“1983.06.05, Johanna and Laura, June 5, 1983” by Judith Black, courtesy of the artist.

“1989.06.11, Laura (with Erik on my birthday, June 11, 1989)” by Judith Black, courtesy of the artist.

Many of Judith Black’s portraits carry the magical illusion of scenes that she happens upon in the moment. But medium- and large-format cameras are not so quick on the draw, necessitating some degree of poised readiness, mental telepathy or both. Whatever Black’s secret powers, her pictures seem fluid, candid, genuine. She invites us in, in the offhand way that one of her kid’s friends might wander into the fray after school. But if we observe closely, we find Black has also allowed us to become confidants.

“1989.12.12, Dylan (Jumped on the street). December 12, 1989” by Judith Black, courtesy of the artist.

Across a broad emotional range, Black maintains an even keel. Some portraits are startling, like her son who was just “jumped on the street” and sports a shiner, others emotionally subdued, like her four kids sitting on the steps before “leaving on vacation” (with their father). Her prints possess a long mid-tone range with a predominance of greys that reflect the ambiguities of real life and temper her photographs with a sense of calm amidst a storm.

“1982.07.09, Dylan, Laura, Johanna, Erik (Leaving on Vacation), July 9, 1982” by Judith Black, courtesy of the artist.

“1989.04.23, Dylan, April 23, 1989” by Judith Black, courtesy of the artist.

More often than not, Black favors focusing on one or two kids at a time, a style that extends to the inquisitive portraits of herself and her partner. This propensity emphasizes mood and personality and divulges the unspoken nuances of relationships. On noted special occasions, she gathers all of her children, rounding out her role as chronicler, storing memories that are “mine to touch. They remind me of both the pleasures and pains of being a part of a family.” And like a family, Black’s portraits scatter in many directions, tracing both tender and fitful connections and dropping clues to the enduring mysteries of family life.

“1988.08.23, Dylan and Erik (Dylan’s birthday), August 23, 1988” by Judith Black, courtesy of the artist.

“My Family, Oslo, 2016” by Bjorn Sterri, courtesy of the artist.

Bjorn Sterri lugs a famously big and bulky Deardorff 8”x 10” view camera with B&W film and totes a zippy, compact Polaroid SX-70 instant camera with color film, assiduously capturing the inherent contrasts of staged versus serendipitous family portraits. Most of this exhibit is populated by Sterri’s dramatically lit, tonally sumptuous 8”x 10” gelatin silver contact prints. Using an exclusively vertical format, he squeezes himself and his family into frames that burst to overflowing with their individual and collective character. I find this somewhat reminiscent of Irving Penn’s iconic 1948 “Corner Portraits,” wherein celebrities of all types, from the Duchess of Windsor to Truman Capote, were wedged between two white walls at an acute angle, obliging the subjects to reveal themselves to the camera without props.

“My Family, Oslo, 2008” by Bjorn Sterri, courtesy of the artist.

“My family, Lykling, 2018” by Bjorn Sterri, courtesy of the artist.

Sterri’s B&W portraits are intense, as he positions his wife, two sons and himself, together and in every combination, either before a solid interior backdrop or in some monolithic natural setting such as a rockface. Their humanity and character fairly erupt from these austere backgrounds, as their moods and personalities play out. It is obvious that Sterri reveres his wife and adores his sons, as he finds pointedly direct, tellingly symbolic and delightfully original ways to inhabit the frame with them.

“Jens Linus and me, Oslo, 2006” by Bjorn Sterri, courtesy of the artist.

“Jens Linus and I, Oslo, 2007” by Bjorn Sterri, courtesy of the artist.

Sterri’s color Polaroids are a playful counterpoint to his formal portraits, hailing the unpredictable and momentary. Candid pictures of his family during summer vacations embrace the accidental, with unfocused motion, splashes of color, overexposed frames and the happy accidents of instant film development. It is a joy to see just how skillfully haphazard Sterri can be in this somewhat surprising series of little gems.

“Alejandra and Jens Linus, Tenerife, 2001” Polaroid by Bjorn Sterri, courtesy of the artist.

“Jens Linus, Oslo, 2007” Polaroid by Bjorn Sterri, courtesy of the artist.

In both staged and candid portraits, whether Sterri’s penetrating gaze is locking the lens or he is observable as a translucent double exposure, or a shadow, or doesn’t appear in the print at all, his presence is clear in every single picture. In his dogged pursuit to celebrate, commemorate and ensure a family history, Sterri’s commanding and tender photographs are a moving tribute to the tangle of comforts and conflicts that we call family.

“Alejandra and my shadow, Oslo, 2018” by Bjorn Sterri, courtesy of the artist.

From the archive Always Been collected and curated by Parker Thompson, courtesy of The Griffin Museum of Photography.

From the archive Always Been collected and curated by Parker Thompson, courtesy of the Griffin Museum of Photography.

There is something melancholic and heartbreaking about a vernacular snapshot that has been untethered from its family. And yet, their anonymity can resonate with viewers who may find a nostalgic sense of memory or shared history with an unknown family. In Intimacies, Long Lost: Selections from the Always Been Collection visual researcher and curator Parker Thompson has amassed an impressive collection of vernacular images of Black families. He says the collection “celebrates Black selfhood and joy as seen through the lens of found photography.” Thompson’s archive shines a light on the lives, loves and stories that have been underrepresented in visual and historic culture. The collection focuses largely on early 20th century pictures from photo booth images, snapshots and even whole album pages. Loose images are arranged with photo corners by theme, several depict departures or arrivals by bus, couples embracing or an assemblage of portraits. One of the most moving of these is an extraordinary picture showing a celebratory wedding party in their finery, adorned with ribbons and flowers.

“Paris” by James Lustenader, 2009, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.

“Last Kiss, Goodbye until the Green Key Party” by Arthur Griffin, May, 1939, courtesy of the Griffin Museum of Photography.

The Griffin continues a series of exhibits to bring its founder Arthur Griffin’s archive into conversation with contemporary photographers. In Point/Counterpoint, self-described flâneur and curious street photographer James Lustenader combed his own archive to compare and contrast his work with Griffin’s. In one, he shows the ennui of 21st century life through a couple seemingly disconnected from each other and their surroundings, installed above an Arthur Griffin picture of a lustily kissing lovers. Or how museum visitors engage with art in Griffin’s era compared to their disengagement in Lustenader’s picture. Seeing them side by side underscores the potent ability of documentary photography to offer unique records of history.

“Sydney” by James Lustenader, 2013, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.

“Museum of Fine Arts” by Arthur Griffin, 1953, courtesy of the Griffin Museum of Photography.

While at the Griffin, be sure to take time to enjoy the 13th Annual Photobook Exhibition. Juried by Griffin Executive Director Crista Dix and Karen Davis of the Davis Orton Gallery in Hudson, NY., the selection features twenty-seven artist-made photobooks. Visitors are encouraged to handle and fully enjoy these original photo objects. We found interacting with the books and photographs in these exhibits to be a rejuvenating treat.

For more information about these exhibits and accompanying programming, go to:  https://griffinmuseum.org/current-exhibitions/

FEATURE IMAGE “1985.05.12, Family group Mother’s Day, May 12, 1985” by Judith Black, courtesy of the artist.