“Not everything that can be counted counts,
and not everything that counts can be counted”
~ William Bruce Cameron (often attributed to Albert Einstein)
By Elin Spring
Ahh, technology! Commonly frustrating to deal with, but impossible to live without. In Cambridge, MA, a dense, vertical and glassy concentration of buildings attests to the burgeoning success of biotech giants and start-ups. The medical benefits to mankind are many, as we saw with Moderna’s effective RNA vaccine for Covid 19. There are substantial financial benefits to the City and Commonwealth, as well. But there are also swiftly creeping collateral effects on the neighborhood that these companies are transforming. Photographer and Cambridge resident Kristen Joy Emack recognizes the often-overlooked human side of this complicated situation in her project, “Book of Saints,” an intimate reading of fortitude in the face of gentrification. Her work is joined by a sampling of vibrant street portraits of Cambridge citizens by emerging photographer Carlos Paronis. On view at the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center through August 21st, 2026.
Feature Image: “Pariza’s Hair” 2025, from The Book of Saints by Kristen Joy Emack, courtesy of the artist.
“A saint, by definition, is an ordinary person who lives a courageous and good life, and because of this, is worthy of imitation.” This is the premise of Kristen Joy Emack’s “Book of Saints.” The saints in her portraits are, in fact, her own neighbors, friends and family. They represent a diverse and devoted community, scrambling to stay in the “Innovation City” of Cambridge, MA as it continues to develop widening gaps in income and opportunity. Emack’s saints are not caricatures of discontent but wholly human. Her portraits behold a presence and depth of character, expressed in a subtle complexity of emotions that were generously shared with her. Each is tribute to their individual spirit.
“Manny” 2020 from The Book of Saints by Kristen Joy Emack, courtesy of the artist.
“Prom” 2024 from The Book of Saints by Kristen Joy Emack, courtesy of the artist.
The greys, blacks and whites in Emack’s photographs resonate with the tonal range of feelings imparted through her portraiture. Whether a contemplative man, group of celebratory teens, affectionate grandmother or inquisitive child, her portraits are lucid and unpretentious. They appear in symbolic communion with venerable shade trees, tangled undergrowth, layered reflections and architectural details that contextualize and strengthen their magnetism.
“Shirley and Jade” 2019, from The Book of Saints by Kristen Joy Emack, courtesy of the artist.
“Misty” 2021 from The Book of Saints by Kristen Joy Emack, courtesy of the artist.
Emack’s compositions further support allusions to the sacred, as in a cross-like telephone pole topped with an offertory birdhouse. Portrait pairings such as the smoke-wreathed man alongside a sculpture of Jesus on the Cross, himself ringed by crown-like foliage, gently convey both ethereal and textural dialogs. Another assemblage of three images is arranged like an altar.
“Birdhouse” 2022 from The Book of Saints by Kristen Joy Emack, courtesy of the artist.
“Julio and Jesus” 2022 from The Book of Saints by Kristen Joy Emack, courtesy of the artist.
Emack pays tribute to her striving neighborhood of Cambridge through her soulful saints. Simultaneously “belonging and longing” (as she eloquently says), they each measure the value of community as their very presence preserves – at least for now – a culture swept into the currents of change.
“Tory” 2020 from The Book of Saints by Kristen Joy Emack, courtesy of the artist.
“Jessica and Genika” 2023, from The Book of Saints by Kristen Joy Emack, courtesy of the artist.
“Te’yana and Kamani, 2025” from the series The Second Colony by Carlos Paronis, courtesy of the artist.
For this exhibit, Emack invited photographer and fellow Cambridge resident Carlos Paronis to share some images from his ongoing project, “The Second Colony.” He tells a similar tale from an entirely different perspective. A recent graduate of Mass Art, Paronis brings the vitality of youth to his vibrant street photographs of strangers. By engaging with a diversity of people as they go about “the ordinary moments that define life,” he hopes to make images that “future generations can look at and know that this landscape is for them.” Emack’s and Paronis’ images dovetail perfectly on the walls of the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center through August 21st, 2026.
For more information, go to: https://multiculturalartscenter.org/book-of-saint/
“Enock in North Cambridge, 2025” from the series The Second Colony by Carlos Paronis, courtesy of the artist.
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