Best Photo Picks Summer 2025

By Elin Spring and Suzanne Révy

At long last, summer! These are our glory days in New England, the season when everyone flocks to the region, from our sparkling coastline, Cape Cod & Islands to the pristine Berkshire, White and Green mountains. Not to mention lively festivals sprinkled from city to countryside. Whether a resident or visitor, we are happy to guide you to photography exhibits and events you won’t want to miss throughout the region this summer, arranged geographically for your planning convenience. Please feel free to check back during July and August, as we update and add listings regularly.

BOSTON PROPER

Leica Gallery Boston – Seeing Across Generations presents three generations of Boston-based photographers who have documented our city and beyond. Photographs from the renowned 1970’s series The Bostonians by the late, great Constantine Manos are in dialog with those by his student and friend Stella Johnson and images by her student and friend, Iaritza Menjivar (above), each offering their affecting and distinctive perspectives on human connection. On view from July 17th – September 14th, 2025.

There will be an Opening Reception on Thursday, July 17th from 6:00 – 8:00pm and an Artist Panel Discussion on Saturday, July 26th from Noon – 2:00pm.

Leica Gallery Boston – What comes to mind when you think of farmers? Probably not women. When photojournalist JuanCarlos González learned 41% of Vermont farmers are women, he traveled across Vermont to chronicle the daily routines of 45 female farmers and their agricultural practices, from saffron cultivation and goat farming to flower and produce growing. Inspired by his Puerto Rican grandmother’s unheralded labors, González sheds light on the lifestyle of these perseverant agricultural laborers. LAST CHANCE! On view through July 13th, 2025.

For more information about all shows and events, go to: https://www.instagram.com/leicagalleryboston/

 

Boston Athenaeum – Featuring the elegant, renowned platinum prints of Edwin Hale Lincoln (1848-1938), Wild Flowers of New England highlights his unique blend of scientific specificity and artistic expression. The exhibit also places Lincoln’s work in conversation with botanical printers and photographers of the past and present, who share his reverence for the ephemeral beauty of native plants and contextualize his practice within the larger effort to document and preserve New England’s wildflowers. On view in the Alcove Gallery, A Living Archive examines the collaborative work of photographer Lindsey Beal and paper and printmaker May Babcock. Together they use alternative photographic processes such as anthotypes and creative papermaking techniques to create work that reflects the New England landscape.  On view through September 5th, 2025.

For more information, go to: https://bostonathenaeum.org/whats-on/exhibitions/edwin-hale-lincoln-wild-flowers/

 

Griffin Museum Gallery at Lafayette City Center (LCC), Downtown Crossing – The best part of any city is its people and in Vision(ary): The People of Chelsea, photographer Darlene DeVita and partner Sarah Putnam capture the great vibrancy and diverse history of Chelsea, Massachusetts in compelling photographs and stories. On view through September 30th, 2025.

For more information about this exhibit and planned events in September, go to: https://griffinmuseum.org/show/peopleofchelsea_lcc/

 

Panopticon Gallery – Rock to Baroque assembles Eric Antoniou’s images of musicians that he has photographed over the past four decades in Boston. On view through July 31st, 2025, there will be a Closing Reception on Thursday, July 31st from 6:00 – 8:00pm. Signed copies of his accompanying book will be available for purchase.

For more information, go to: https://www.panopticongallery.com/

 

SOWA – Boston’s South End Arts District

Abakus Projects – The incisive, ruminating photographs in Judith Blacks’ solo show Tangible Memories are at once a family album and opportunities for reflection and invention. Images spanning over 40 years of her family’s domestic life “are actual physical memories, evoking stories, truths and lies, all of which are ever changing, depending on the reader’s perspective.” On through July 20th, 2025. 

For more information, go to: https://www.abakusprojects.com/

 

GREATER BOSTON – Cambridge and Jamaica Plain

Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology at Harvard University, Cambridge – Castaway: The Afterlife of Plastic presents work by Mexican artists Ilana Boltvinik and Rodrigo Viñas, who together form the collective TRES, recipients of the Robert Gardner Fellowship in Photography. The bilingual photographic exhibition documents their 2016 journey along the beaches of Queensland, Western Australia, and Tasmania, where they collected and photographed varied debris that had washed up from places as far away as China. Their images, many presented in macro scale, evoke archaeology, marine biology, and cartography, inviting viewers to ponder the natural landscapes and the stark, unnatural objects scattered across them. Exhibit curator Ilisa Barbash emphasizes that “rather than producing a simple diatribe about the environment, TRES plays with the sizes, shapes, and colors of familiar castaway items, inviting us to see their beauty and attempt to make sense of them.” On view through April 6th, 2026.

For more information, go to: https://peabody.harvard.edu/castaway-afterlife-plastic

 

Photographic Resource Center (PRC), Cambridge – Three Southeast Asian-American artists pay tribute to the strength and resilience of their Thai, Cambodian, and Vietnamese grandmothers, whose perseverance and wisdom paved the way for their families to survive hardship and immigration to the US. Curated by PRC Program Manager Catherine LeComte Lecce, My Grandmother is an Altar features photography, film, and altar work by Tarik Bartel, Kannetha Brown, and Anhkim Dang. LAST CHANCE! On view through July 5th, 2025.

For more information about this exhibit, go to: https://www.prcboston.org/my-grandmother-is-an-altar/

Coming next to PRC, Cambridge – The group exhibition Power Play features six artists whose work questions ideas of cultural dominance with artful resistance: Laura Beth Reese (above), Yukai Chen, Julie Francois, Lisa Tang Liu, Pamela Pecchio and Homa Sarabi. On view from July 11th – August 17th, 2025, there will be an Artist Talk from 4:00 – 5:00pm, followed by an Opening Reception from 5:00 – 7:00pm on Saturday, July 12th.

For more information, go to: https://www.prcboston.org/exhibitions/

 

The Multicultural Arts Center, East Cambridge – Over the past two decades, photojournalist Bill Chapman has traveled to Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama to photograph surviving players of the Negro Leagues, those venerable organizations that garnered the talents of would-be Major League baseball players before racial integration in 1947. On view through August 1st, 2025.

For more information, go to: https://multiculturalartscenter.org/nlp/

 

Bridge Gallery, Cambridge – For unfailing Beatles fans, there’s this: “For an 18 month period in the early 70’s John Lennon and Yoko Ono split apart and Lennon embarked on what he dubbed his “Lost Weekend.”  May Pang was his lover throughout that creatively productive time in Lennon’s career and was documenting it with her camera.” In an admittedly financial move, May Pang and her promoter are offering her pictures through galleries nationwide this summer. The show will be landing here Friday, July 18 from 4:00-8:00PM, Saturday, July 19 from 12:00-6:00PM, and Sunday, July 20 from 12:00-4:00 PM. Pang will be present on Saturday and Sunday, selling & signing photographs.

For more information, go to: https://www.bridge.photos/contact

 

Jamaica Plain Branch of Boston Public Library – Boston-based photographer Joni Lohr’s solo exhibit Inside Out features eerie yet peaceful pictures taken from the inside of abandoned buildings, looking out into the environment. She finds “a spirit in these places…that resists the rust and rot of their circumstances” and testifies to their former life and purpose, further contextualized by the contrast of their outside surroundings. On view through August 27th, 2025.

For more information, go to: https://www.bpl.org/current-exhibitions/

 

THE BURBS

Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester – It’s the time of year for the big, splashy group shows! A summer favorite is the 31st Annual Member’s Juried Show with selections by Ann Jastrab, Executive Director at the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel, California. The exhibit boasts 68 images including Vaune Trachtman’s photo (above). On view from July 5th – August 17th, 2025.

Also at the Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester – In Far From, Alina Saranti embroiders thread through her black and white landscape pictures, offering a glimpse into the sphere of “women’s work” over the types of photographs traditionally made by men in the last century. For another delectable summer treat, do not miss the 15th Annual Photo Book exhibition alongside the Handmade Photobook exhibition. The museum’s Outdoor Gallery spotlights the work of Cummings Fellow André Ramos-Woodard. The Annual Juried Show and Alina Saranti exhibit are on view from July 5th  – August 17th, 2025; others are on view through September 28th, 2025. The Opening Reception for ALL exhibits is on Friday, July 11th from 6:00 to 8:00pm. 

For more information and related programming: https://griffinmuseum.org/show/31mje2025/

 

Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover – Drawing on its extensive photographic archive, museum Director Allison Kemmerer has curated Dynamic Duo, an exhibit that considers the relationships and interactions of two beings sharing space, whether they be romantic partners, family members, close friends, rivals, strangers, or interspecies companions. On view through July 31st, 2025.

To read our review, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/dynamic-duos-group-photo-show-at-addison-gallery-of-american-art-in-andover-ma/

For more information, go to: https://addison.andover.edu/exhibition/dynamic-duos/

 

Peabody Esssex Museum (PEM), Salem – As part of their summer Korean art bonanza, PEM presents Building Dreams, South Korean artist Jung Yeondoo’s photographic and video examinations of his people’s dreams and aspirations. In his series Bewitched, subjects pose identically in side-by-side scenes picturing what they do versus what they want to do. In the series Evergreen Towers, Yeondoo observes the individuality and personalities of families living in identical units of generic high rise buildings. On view through January 25th, 2026.

To read our review: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/korean-photographer-jung-yeondoo-building-dreams-show-at-peabody-essex-museum-salem-ma/

For more information, go to: https://www.pem.org/exhibitions/jung-yeondoo-building-dreams

 

Heftler Visiting Artist Gallery, Endicott College, Beverly – Photographer & professor Larry Volk and former student, photographer Sean Sullivan share their passion in a two-person exhibit, DRIVEN: The Art and Culture of Classic Cars. Sullivan’s Classic Style showcases cars made between the 1930’s and 1960’s, “stunning sculptural artifacts of American culture,” in his signature bright and bold graphic compositions. Volk’s Autorama: Car Culture in America highlights people and their passion for machines that are “vessels of identity, legacy and connection.” On view through August 1st, 2025.

For more information, go to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/driven-the-art-culture-of-classic-cars-tickets-1405779156299?aff=erelexpmlt

 

CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS

Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg – Anne Hopkins, winner of last year’s 88th Annual Exhibition of Art and Craft specializes in image transfer onto found objects. Her solo exhibit features two bodies of work, Gathered and Seaworthy Vessels. On view through September 7th, 2025.

For more information: https://fitchburgartmuseum.org/anne-hopkins-gathered-and-seaworthy-vessels/

Ongoing at Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg – Tara Sellios: Ask Now the Beasts revels in the dance between mortality and immortality through still-life images of organic material such as dried flowers, desiccated insects and animal skeletons. Sellios creates these divine and physical tableaux based on expressive and detailed sketches, then renders them in lush color on 8″ by 10″ film and large format prints. On view through January 18th, 2026. 

To read our review: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/ask-now-the-beasts-tara-sellios-at-fitchburg-art-museum-in-ma/

For more information about all exhibits and to register for events, go to: https://fitchburgartmuseum.org

 

CAPE COD

Wellfleet Preservation Hall – For the past six years, photographer Edward Boches has been documenting the Wellfleet shellfishing community, accompanying them out to their grants on Loagy Bay and Fields Point, recording the labor, energy and spirit of the men and women who provide their famous oysters to the world. By the Tide features 60 of Boches’ inspiring B&W photographs, in a festive confluence of July, Wellfleet, oysters, and Prez Hall. On view through July 31st, 2025.

NOTE: With support from the Wellfleet Oyster Association, there will be an Opening Reception with the artist, complete with a raw bar on Wednesday, July 16th from 5:00 – 7:00pm. On Friday, July 18th, there will be an Artist Talk and education event from 5:00 – 6:00pm.

Coming next to Wellfleet Preservation Hall is Lisa Cohen’s Beneath the Layers, a photography-based, mixed media solo exhibit delving into the impacts of immigration. By drawing on her own family’s struggles as immigrants from Germany following WWII, Cohen invites us to reflect on migration circumstances today. Her layering of photo transfers, encaustic wax and painting on aged materials infer the complexities of displacement and its deep emotional effects on personal resilience and family bonds. On view from August 1st – 31st, 2025, there will be an Opening Reception with the artist on Friday, August 1st from 5:00 – 7:00pm.

For more information about July and August exhibits, go to: https://www.wellfleetpreservationhall.org/

 

The Workspace Gallery, Eastham – In the latest iteration of invention from Fran Forman, her photographic and AI-generated images in Theater of the Absurd ponders “America’s unsettling drift toward authoritarianism.” While her scenarios convey isolation, suspicion and absurdity, her deft representations of children and clowns become symbols of resilience that reassure us that all is not lost. On view July 10th – August 31st, 2025, there will be an Opening Reception with the artist on Thursday, July 10th from 5:00 – 7:00pm.

For more information, go to: https://bobkornimaging.com/gallery/

 

Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis – Sublime to Ridiculous features a delightful selection of freelance photojournalist Mark Chester’s prints spanning five decades of travel and human-interest stories published in newspapers nationwide. On view through August 10th, 2025.

For more information, go to: https://www.ccmoa.org/mark-chester 

 

 

Gary Marotta Fine Art, Provincetown – In Vignettes and Visions, Kimberly Witham’s still-life photographs find moments of ephemeral beauty within her contemplations of excess and decay. As ever, she draws inspiration from the light and clarity of Dutch Golden Age painting. Recent Works are printed on Japanese Washi Paper, varnished and mounted on birch wood panels. On view from July 18th – August 28th, 2025, there will be Opening Receptions with the artist on Friday, July 18th and Saturday, July 19th from 7:00 – 9:00pm.

For more information, go to: https://garymarottafineart.com/

 

ROAD TRIP! 

Rhode Island

Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts (RICPA), Providence – Bill Parker: A Matter of Influence brings together works by nineteen former students and colleagues of William E. Parker, including a wide variety of silver gelatin prints. Participating artists are Renee Allie, Mauro Altamura, Stephan Apicella-Hitchcock, John Back, Reenie Barrow, Stephan Brigidi, Hilary French, Wendy Gogel, Peg Harrigan, Ted Hendrickson, Bob Kelley, Mary Kocol, Dean Kotula, Bob Martin, Stephen Petegorsky, David Seigel, Jim Stone, Brian Swift & John Willis. On view through July 11th, 2025. 

For more information, go to: https://www.riphotocenter.org/

 

Connecticut

Museum of Contemporary Art Connecticut (MoCA CT), Westport – The long time Yale educator, Todd Papageorge spent several summers on the beaches in Los Angeles, photographing with medium format camera and black and white film. This retrospective look, Tod Papageorge: At the Beach, is paired with In the Pool: On Influence featuring work from many of his graduate students. Curated by Lisa Kereszi both exhibitions are on view through October 26th, 2025. 

For more information: https://mocact.org/exhibitions/

 

New Hampshire

Hood Museum, Hanover, NH – In her first major solo exhibition, artist Cara Romero explores themes of indigenous culture. Titled Cara Romero: Panûpünüwügai (Living Light), the show includes over sixty large-scale photographs and site specific installations curated by Dr. Jami Powell, Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Indigenous Art. On view through August 10th, 2025. 

For more information: https://hoodmuseum.dartmouth.edu/news/2023/11/hood-museum-present-cara-romeros-first-solo-museum-exhibition-2025

 

Maine

Maine Museum of Photographic Arts, Portland – The New Abstraction features works by Deb Dawson, Bryan Graff, Carol Eisenberg, Tara Sellios, Paul Rider, Luc Demers, Rush Brown, John Gintoff, Joan Fitzsimmons, Caroline Savage, Andrew O’Brien and Brenton Hamilton. On view through July 26th, 2025.

For more information:https://www.mainemuseumofphotographicarts.org

 

Cove Street Arts, Portland – Phenomena curated by Bruce Brown features the surreal work of Adam Ekberg and atmospheric abstractions by Sarah Szwajkos. On view through August 9th, 2025.

For more information: https://www.covestreetarts.com/exhibitions-1/phenomenapreview

 

Portland Museum of Art, Portland – Jo Sandman: Skin Deep celebrates the museum’s acquisition of twelve unique photograms of snakeskins arranged as hieroglyphs. On view through August 17th, 2025. 

For more information: https://www.portlandmuseum.org/jo-sandman-skin-deep

 

Vermont

Vermont Center for Photography, Brattleboro – Joan O’Bierne: Detachments features acrylic gel lifts of  printed images transferred onto new surfaces creating gossamer compositions of soft folds and wrinkles which add narrative meaning. In addition, the show includes a series of similarly crafted self-portraits. On view from July 4th through August 31st 2025 with a reception planned for Friday July 11th, 5 to 8pm, and an artist talk planned for Sunday August 10th at 5pm.

For more information: https://vcphoto.org

Shelburne Museum, Shelburne – Using a large format camera and the cyanotype process, artist David Sokosh explores the Shelburne’s collection of American ephemera. Honoring the vision of the museum’s founder Electra Havemeyer Webb, Blueprint of a Collection: Cyanotype Photography by David Sokosh presents the collection with his fresh, inventive imagery. On view through October 26th, 2025.

For more information: https://shelburnemuseum.org/exhibition/blueprint-of-a-collection/