First Look 2026

By Suzanne Révy

Near the beginning of each year, Boston’s Panopticon Gallery, under the direction of Alexa Cushing and Connor Noll, presents a juried exhibition that features short portfolios by five emerging artists. “First Look 2026” showcases tantalizing photographs by Kevin Williamson, Anastasia Sierra, Donna Garcia, Josh Aronson and Laura Ritch. In addition, the gallery displays a selection of single images from submissions they received as unframed prints in “First Look: A Second Glance.” Both shows are on view through April 2026. 

“Dan” by Kevin Williamson, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA.

“Hudson River, Peekskill” by Kevin Williamson, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA.

Kevin Williamson’s large format black and white landscapes and portraits made around the Hudson Valley in New York are quietly meditative. Using a long mid-tonal range, he invites viewers to slow down and consider each detail. The view of a bridge abutment complete with graffiti and the calm flowing river below emphasizes the collision of rural and urban areas. A solitary figure dwarfed by a rocky chasm conveys the power of nature that abounds around the Hudson River. Williamson’s pictures are exquisitely printed which belies the erosion and human incursions into the landscape. 

“Majesty” by Anastasia Sierra, from the series The Witching Hour, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA.

“Blame” by Anastasia Sierra, from the series The Witching Hour, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA.

Where Williamson’s work looks methodical in its construction, Anastasia Sierra appears to work more intuitively in her series The Witching Hour. Every parent knows the challenges of childrearing around 5pm each afternoon. Sierra’s large, colorful, staged images are drawn from her own dreams that are infused with the anxiety around her responsibilities of raising a child and taking care of an elderly parent. Taking a cue from that particularly stressful hour just before dinnertime, her images are by turns surreal and rooted in the domestic. Her use of light and shadow endows the images with a certain strain: can a loving embrace also feel constricting?

“Removed” by Donna Garcia, from the series Indian Land For Sale, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA.

“Fire Eye” by Donna Garcia, from the series Indian Land for Sale, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA.

In her series Indian Land for Sale, Donna Garcia sheds light on the hidden history of the extermination of Indigenous populations in 1830, when they were forcibly relocated under President Andrew Jackson. In researching these events, she found no original documentation of native populations. To recollect and restore their vanished history, she made black and white pictures that evoke that sense of loss and erasure. By employing a slow shutter, the features of a face blur in motion, or hands bound in rope struggle against an unseen and overpowering force. Most poignantly, an alarmed eye bearing the reflection of fire denotes a sense of eradication. 

“Blue Angels” by Josh Aronson, from the series Florida Boys, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA.

“Creek” by Josh Aronson, from the series Florida Boys, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA.

Josh Aronson’s sitters are prominent and precarious in his constructed images of boys and young men in Florida Boys. His cinematic tableaux feature kids hanging out in spaces that could be seen as a little dangerous. Two abandoned and burned-out buses provide a place to play with fire and an empty billboard sign becomes a jungle gym but at the same time, the languid curve of a tree over a small wetland offers peaceful respite from the Florida heat. Aronson’s pictures are teeming with a sense of camaraderie illuminating shared experiences and the unique bonds that form during formative years. 

“Emerge” by Laura Ritch, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA.

“Balance” by Laura Ritch, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA.

Laura Ritch’s muted palette and soft light seem palpable in her photographs featuring young children. I can feel the hose and the grass under my feet in “Balance” or the cool refreshing water through my fingers in “Emerge.” We learn that in this series, Ritchie assigned herself the task of “finding the light.” And find it she did; these quietly expressive studies of reticence and nostalgia are sublime without becoming saccharine.

While at Panopticon, be sure to check out “The Wall Gallery” displaying “First Look: Second Glance,” which features a cornucopia of hidden gems. 

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

“The Wall Gallery: Second Glance” on view at Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA. (Installation photograph by Suzanne Révy)