Solitude in Cities

What Makes It Great? / Featured / January 22, 2025

by Elin Spring

In the cavernous hallway gallery that imposes its own sense of disconnection, the Griffin Museum of Photography at Lafayette City Center presents “Solitude in Cities,” a two-person exhibition featuring the roaming urban imagery of Boston photographer Jeff Larason and NY photographer Lynn Saville. In the same way that every portrait is a self-portrait, the photographers share the theme of solitude, but their engrossing, alternating groups of images have strikingly distinct personalities. On view through March 23^rd, 2025, there will be an Opening Reception with the artists at the gallery in Boston’s Downtown Crossing on this Saturday, January 25^th from 3:00 – 5:00pm.

Feature Image: “Federal Street, Boston” by Jeff Larason, courtesy of the artist.

“One Financial Center, Boston” by Jeff Larason, courtesy of the artist.

Jeff Larason’s bold black and white images emphasize geometric forms and feature singular individuals who summon feelings of isolation as much as solitude. His compositions are tight and angular, with an interplay of shadows and light that simultaneously convey disjuncture and movement. Locations are named yet indiscernible.

“Central Square, Cambridge” by Jeff Larason, courtesy of the artist.

“South Station MBTA” by Jeff Larason, courtesy of the artist.

Human silhouettes, fractions of bodies, and people facing or heading in opposite directions create emotional tension. And yet, these images do not feel disquieting. Rather, he creates a sense of isolation that can be interpreted as tranquil, lonely or determined. Larason’s photographs are as graphically connected as their subjects seem disconnected, a balance of visual definition and emotional ambiguity that renders captivating, mysterious images.

“Dance With Me” by Lynn Saville, courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery, NYC.

“Rooftops from Court Square Platform” by Lynn Saville, courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery, NYC.

Lynn Saville’s color images deliberately identify the grit and glory of New York City. With an enchanting dance of natural and artificial light, they capitalize on the glow of city lights in dusk or dark. A mood reminiscent of Edward Hopper paintings permeates some tranquil images. In others, illumination imbues Saville’s pictures with inviting textures.

“Market Hotel” by Lynn Saville, courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery, NYC.

Like Larason, she plays with the disparate scale of urban environments but her compositions expand to contrast subjects in the foreground with open skies, glittery skyscrapers, and distant horizons. Her perspective is spacious and enticing, luring viewers into each scenario.

“Girl on the Highline” by Lynn Saville, courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery, NYC.

Solitude in Cities rewards us with an engrossing comparison of two remarkable photographic viewpoints. Larason’s disengaged citizens contrast with Saville’s subjects, who are transactional, with people coming, going, and doing things that, while not exactly in concert, are not oppositional. Saville’s occasional use of camera blur conveys a feeling of suspended time, while Larason’s daggered edges appear to halt it.

“Clarendon Street, Boston” by Jeff Larason, courtesy of the artist.

In a pair of adjoining prints, we see Larason’s image of a stark, angled subject against a monumental concrete backdrop, striding away from the camera. Next to it is Saville’s muted image of a half-hidden, slightly blurred subject poised in a dark doorway with a light glaring down overhead. The two images wondrously converse, in an example of the distinctive styles that make this exhibit as engaging emotionally as it is visually.