Best Photo Picks January 2020

By Elin Spring & Suzanne Révy

To ring in the New Year, we bring you a host of photography shows and events worth braving these dark winter days to visit! Just as immigration seemed to be a prevailing theme last fall, the winter months have provoked a plethora of exhibits considering a sense of home or belonging. Please join us in venturing out to engage with the most thought-provoking exhibits and artists around Boston and beyond. For your convenience, we list them geographically. And please check back throughout the month, as we update regularly.

SOWA – Boston’s Art Gallery District in the South End

“Antennas #1, #2, #3, 2018” by Yorgos Efthymiadis (courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas).

Gallery Kayafas – Edie Bresler’s The Blues & other possibilities and Yorgos Efthymiadis’ There Is A Place I Want To Take You both seek connection in gorgeous, resounding expressions that are vastly different. On view through January 18th, 2020, there will be an Artists Reception on First Friday, January 3rd, 2020 from 5;30 – 8:00pm.

To read our review, go to: https://whatwillyouremember.com/edie-bresler-yorgos-efthymiadis-joseph-wheelwright-at-gallery-kayafas-boston/

For more information, go to: http://www.gallerykayafas.com/home/exhibitions/current/

“Transmission, 2019” by Nat Martin (courtesy of the artist and Kingston Gallery).

Kingston Gallery – In Nat Martin: Studio Views, the artist channels his anxieties about climate change into post-apocalyptic scenes fabricated entirely from mundane materials in his studio. Martin’s eerie, swirling zeitgeist will be on view in the main gallery from January 2nd – February 2nd, 2020 with an Opening Reception on First Friday, January 3rd, 2020 from 5:00 – 8:00pm. For more information, go to: http://www.kingstongallery.com/exhibitions/2020/january-nat-martin-studio-views.php

“Wisdom” by Becky Behar (Courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum).

Griffin Museum at SOWA – In the tradition of Dutch Golden Age paintings, emerging photographer Becky Behar stages a visual dialog between herself and her daughter in Seeing You, Seeing Me, her meditative studies within a domestic setting. On view through February 2nd, 2020, for directions and more information, go to: https://griffinmuseum.org/exhibitions/

Laura McPhee, “Cottonwood Under Chalk Bluff by the Truckee River, Washoe County, Nevada, 2014”
Archival pigment print, 30 x 40″ (Courtesy of the artist and Carroll & Sons).

Carroll & Sons – Five expansive photographs from Laura McPhee’s ongoing project Desert Chronicle will be on view in a “capsule exhibition” through February 1st, 2020. For more information, go to: https://carrollandsons.net/

Stepped Foot, Three Panels, 1989, 7 x 12 in. © John Coplans Trust

Howard Yezerski Gallery – John Coplans: Self-Portrait Polaroids features seminal work made between 1984-2002 that confronts issues of identity and aging in a singular and unforgettable manner. On view from January 10th – February 18th, 2020, there will be an Opening Reception on Friday, January 10th, 2020 from 5:00 – 8:00pm. For more information, go to: https://www.howardyezerski.com/upcoming

BOSTON PROPER

“Home No. 16, 2017” from the series Home by Gohar Dashti, Collection of Azita Bina and Elmar Seibel (courtesy of the artist and Robert Klein Gallery).

MFA, Boston –  Reimagining Home: Photographs by Bahman Jalali and Gohar Dashti compares the work of Iranian pioneer Jalali (1944-2010) and his student, contemporary photographer Gohar Dashti, illuminating the ways in which they combine documentary and imaginary elements in their distinctive photography to explore common themes of belonging, displacement, cultural history and memory. On view from January 11th – July 12th, 2020, join exhibit curator Kristen Gresh in A Conversation with Gohar Dashti on Sunday, January 19th, 202  from 2:00 – 3:00pm (free with museum admission). For more information, go to: https://www.mfa.org/exhibition/reimagining-home 

Untitled #466, 2014 Hellen van Meene (Dutch, born in 1972). Photograph, chromogenic print. ©Hellen van Meene, courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York. Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Installation view by Elin Spring.

Also at the MFA, Boston – Make Believe, an exhibit of photographs inspired by fairy tales and its companion exhibit, Kay Nielsen’s Enchanted Vision, featuring his magical folk tale illustrations. The two shows embellish one another in a lively conversation across galleries.  Last chance, on view through January 20th, 2020!

For our review, go to: https://whatwillyouremember.com/shadi-ghadirian-paolo-ventura-hellen-van-meene-nicholas-kahn-richard-selesnick-make-believe-at-mfa-boston/

For information about these exhibits, go to: https://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/make-believe

“Woman with Large Plate (Francesca Woodman), Rome, 1978″ by Stephan Brigidi (courtesy of the artist and Robert Klein Gallery).

Robert Klein Gallery – Stephan Brigidi: Rome 1970’s and Francesca Woodman will be on view from January 4th – January 25th, 2020. There will be a Reception on Saturday, January 25th, 2020 from 2:00 – 5:00pm including an Artist Talk with curator and art historian Martina Tenga. For information, go to: https://www.robertkleingallery.com/

Photograph © Deborah Anderson (courtesy of the artist and Leica Gallery Boston).

Leica Gallery Boston – Deborah Anderson’s solo exhibition Women of the White Buffalo features photographs she made during the filming of her documentary about Native Women from the Oglala Lakota Nation. Last chance, on view through January 12th, 2020. For information, go to: https://leicagalleryboston.com/exhibitions/

From the series Vertical Horizon by Ralph Gibson (courtesy of the artist and Leica Gallery Boston).

At Leica Gallery Boston from January 16th – March 1st, 2020, a retrospective of renowned photographer Ralph Gibson’s high impact color and B&W imagery, Selected Works: 1966-2016. The gallery is hosting an Artist Reception and Book Signing on Thursday, January 23rd, 2020 from 6:00 – 9:00pm. For more information and/or to RSVP to the free reception, go to: https://leicagalleryboston.com/exhibitions/

Brian Kaplan, “248 Shore Road” archival pigment print, courtesy of the artist.

Panopticon Gallery – In Homeward Bound, nine photographers explore the longing for belonging, guest curated by Suzanne Révy and Elin Spring (yes! that’s us, again!). Bob Avakian, Ron Cowie, Brian Kaplan (above), Molly Lamb, Alysia Macaulay (Feature Image), Sarah Malakoff, Astrid Reischwitz, Suzanne Révy and Cheryle St. Onge exhibit several works each in a dialog on the yearning for a place we can call home. On view through February 2nd, 2020, for a complete view, go to: https://whatwillyouremember.com/homeward-bound-group-photography-exhibit-at-panopticon-gallery-in-boston/

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

“Leftovers, 2001” from the series How We Live by Stefanie Klavens (courtesy of the artist).

Suffolk University Gallery, Boston – In another lively iteration, Finding Home gathers a selection of photographers whose diverse work also ponders the gripping desire for a sense of “home”: Christine Collins, Stefanie Klavens (above), David Hilliard, Eduardo L. Rivera, William Christenberry (from the Collection of Arlette and Gus Kayafas) and Max Belcher (from the Collection of Cheryl Hirshman). On view through January 22, 2020. For more information, go to: www.suffolk.edu/nesad/gallery

BSA Space at the Boston Society of Architects headquarters at 290 Congress Street in Boston.

BSA Space at Boston Society of Architects  – Juried by Meghan Melvin, Christine O’Donnell, and Peter Vanderwarker, The Architecture of Time features 36 photographers whose work explores time or history through an architectural lens. On view from January 10th – May 15th, 2020, there will be an Opening Reception on Friday, January 10th, 2020 from 6:00 – 8:00pm. For directions and more information, go to: https://www.architects.org/exhibitions/the-architecture-of-time

CAMBRIDGE & SOMERVILLE

Guy Bourdin, “Charles Jourdan, 1978” C-Print on Fujiflex paper (Courtesy The Guy Bourdin Estate/ Louise Alexander Gallery).

The MIT Museum, Cambridge – After traveling around the world, the critically acclaimed exhibit The Polaroid Project: At the Intersection of Art and Technology opened at the MIT Museum on October 11th, 2019, approximately a block from where instant film was first invented. Exploring the art-technology relationship through the exhibition of both art and artifacts, the show includes work by a veritable hit parade of Polaroid photographers, from André Kertész to Andy Warhol. Part I of this exhibit will be on view through February 23rd, 2020.

To read our review, go to: https://whatwillyouremember.com/the-polaroid-project-at-the-intersection-of-art-and-technology-mit-museum-cambridge-ma/

For more information about the exhibit and its terrific associated programming, go to: https://mitmuseum.mit.edu/thepolaroidproject

“Untitled (Central Square), 2019” by Karl Baden (courtesy of the artist and Howard Yezerski Gallery).

Gallery 344 (Cambridge Arts in the City Hall Annex) – Mass Ave, Cambridge features Karl Baden’s delightfully layered street photographs of Cambridge’s distinctive neighborhoods from the Charles River to the Arlington border in a rich and diverse photographic portrait of the City. On view through February 14th, 2020, the exhibit includes accounts of Baden’s experience in executing the project and a freely accessible digital photo archive. For information, go to: https://www.cambridgema.gov/arts/publicart/gallery344/upcomingkarlbaden

From the series Delta Hill Riders by Rory Doyle (Courtesy of the artist).

Bridge Gallery, Cambridge – The 2019 ZEKE Magazine Award Winners are featured in this exhibition: Rory Doyle’s series Delta Hill Riders and Toby Binder’s Youth of Belfast. Last chance, on view through January 11th, 2020. For more information, go to: https://www.bridge.photos/shows

“Ntozakhe II, Parktown, 2016” ©Zanele Muholi (courtesy of the artist, Cooper Gallery at Harvard and Yancey Richardson Gallery, NY).

Cooper Gallery at Harvard University, Cambridge – In Somnyama Ngonyama: Hail the Dark Lionness, South African activist photographer Zanele Muholi explores race, representation and identity politics in over 80 self-portraits laced with urgency, solemnity and sometimes biting humor. On view from January 31st – June 1st, 2020, there are exciting Opening Events with Zanele Muholi, curator Renée Mussai and special guests beginning at 2:30pm on January 31st, 2020. For information, go to: https://coopergallery.fas.harvard.edu/somnyama-ngonyama

Untitled, From the series Wild West, 1994, Polaroid Color Print © David Levinthal

Photographic Resource Center (PRC), Cambridge – Sarah Pollman has curated Locating Place: Selections from the Holdings, culled from donations to the PRC’s stellar Print Program. Featuring work by Bremmer Benedict, Barbara Bosworth, Jim Dow, Jessica Ferguson, Frank Gohlke, David Hilliard, Michael Kenna, David Levinthal (above), Alex Maclean, Laura McPhee, Matt Siber, and Bradford Washburn, the show will be on view through January 24th in University Hall gallery on the lower level, 1815 Mass Ave, Cambridge. There will be a Reception and Gallery Talk about the exhibit and artists with curator Sarah Pollman on Tuesday, January 14th, 2020 at 6:30pm. For more information, go to: https://prcboston.org/whats-happening/

Yorgos Efthymiadis from the series “Faith in the City” courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas.

The Somerville Museum – Curated by Charan Devereaux, Faith in a City explores religion in Somerville, Massachusetts through music, photography, interviews and history as a way to better understand the community through the role religion plays across the city. The project includes concerts, talks, panel discussions and and an exhibit at the Somerville Museum. The exhibition includes photography by Yorgos Efthymiadis, Carlos Arzaga, Mara Brod, Charan Devereaux, Keiko Hiromi, Alonso Nichols, Claudia Ruiz Gustafson, Amber Tourlentes and will be on view through January 26th, 2020.  For more information and a list of events, go to: http://somervillemuseum.org/faith-in-a-city-exploring-religion-in-somerville-ma/

The Curated Fridge, Somerville – Curated Fridge founder Yorgos Efthymiadis is curating something special for his 20th show, opening on January 20th, 2020. The Ones That Got Away will feature a selection of images that previous guest curators, for various reasons, didn’t include in their shows. For directions, hours and more information, go to: https://www.facebook.com/thecuratedfridge/?__tn__=%2Cd%2CP-R&eid=ARANvh7Th3fpidSZHN5aZFSUUlHeMEmJqho7aZXlTL_JaNpVfoFJLbLJeUT0OZRQr7Lmz7G3yWpVVK5a

THE BURBS

“Secluded Cabin” from the book The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer (Overlapse, 2017) by Amani Willett, courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography.

Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester – Four diverse solo exhibitions explore “a haunting and surreal sense of place and history, emphasizing the strangeness of the worlds that we create, populate, and then leave behind” (Russell Lord, Freeman Family Curator of Photographs, New Orleans Museum of Art): Amani Willett’s The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer (above) and Jon Horvath’s This is Bliss in the Main Gallery, Barbara Diener’s Phantom Power in the Griffin Gallery, and Walker Pickering’s Nearly West in the Griffin Atelier Gallery, on view from January 9th – March 1st, 2020. There will be a Gallery Talk with Barbara Diener at 6:15pm followed by an Opening Reception for all exhibits from 7:00 – 8:30pm on Thursday, January 16th, 2020. For more information, go to: https://griffinmuseum.org/upcoming-exhibitions/

“Respite” from the series Family Fictions by Liz Albert (courtesy of the artist and Danforth Art Museum).

Danforth Art Museum at Framingham State University – Liz Albert’s vernacular photo pairings subvert other people’s snapshots into mysterious, fun and sometimes nefarious narratives in her solo show Family Fictions, on view from January 11th – April 5th, 2020. Opening on January 18th, 2020, Family Circle is a multi-media exhibit featuring work by seven artists including photographers Claudia Ruiz-Gustafson, Lee Kilpatrick and Kristen Joy Emack. An opening reception for both shows is planned for Saturday February 1st 2020 from 6 to 8pm. For more information, go to: https://danforth.framingham.edu/see-art/

Kevin Bubriski, “World Trade Center Series, September 2001” gelatin silver print, courtesy of the artist and the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum.

DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln – Photosynthesis encompasses a suite of three interrelated photography exhibits that consider diverse subjects – from botanical design to news reportage – in light of current ideas about truth in imagery. Truthiness and the News, All the Marvelous Surfaces: Photography Since Karl Blossfeldt and Peter Hutchinson: Landscapes of My Life will be on view through March 29th, 2020.

To read our review of All The Marvelous Surfaces, go to: https://whatwillyouremember.com/all-the-marvelous-surfaces-at-decordova-scuplture-park-and-museum/

To read our review of Truthiness and the News, go to: https://whatwillyouremember.com/truthiness-and-the-news-decordova-scupture-park-and-museum/

For more information, go to: https://decordova.org/art/current-exhibitions

ROAD TRIP!

Andy Warhol, Mao Tse-Tung, 1972, color screenprint, National Endowment for the Arts Museum Purchase Plan, 1977.91.
© 2019 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA – Organized primarily from the Museum’s permanent collection, Photo Revolution: Andy Warhol to Cindy Sherman “assesses the trajectory of contemporary art through a comparison of traditional media, such as painting, prints, and sculpture, with photography and emerging photo-based art.” On view through February 16th, 2020.  For more information, go to: https://www.worcesterart.org/exhibitions/photo-revolution/

Images, clockwise from top left: For Freedoms (Hank Willis Thomas and Emily Shur in collaboration with Eric Gottesman and Wyatt Gallery of For Freedoms), Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Fear and Freedom from Want, 2018. Museum Purchase: Currier Museum of Art.

Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, NH – Founded by artists Eric Gottesman and Hank Willis Thomas, We Are For Freedoms comprises a highly participatory exhibition inspired by Norman Rockwell’s 1943 paintings of the four universal freedoms articulated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Coinciding with the lead-up to New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary, the exhibition and associated activities explore how art can spur discussions about values, place, and patriotism. On view through March 1st, 2020. for information about the exhibit and extensive programming, go to: https://currier.org/for-freedoms/

To read our review in ArchitectureBoston magazine, go to: https://www.architects.org/stories/a-reflective-lens

Keliy Anderson-Staley, Shelter in Place as installed at SITE Gallery, Silos at Sawyer Yards, Houston, TX, 2018. Wet-plate collodion tintypes, wood, and metal, 120 x 96 x 96 in. Courtesy of the artist and Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago.

Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, VT – Time Lapse: Contemporary Analog Photography showcases work made with a variety of 19th-century photographic processes, such as daguerreotypes, cyanotypes and photograms. Thirteen national and international artists, including Keliy Anderson-Staley (above), Adam Fuss, Sally Mann and David Emitt Adams contribute to a hit parade of photographers using alternative methods, on view through March 8th, 2020.  For more information, go to: https://shelburnemuseum.org/exhibition/time-lapse-contemporary-analog-photography/

“Martha Graham” © Barbara Morgan

Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine – Barbara Morgan: Letter to the World traces the artist’s (1900-1992) fascination with gesture and movement, highlighting how her photography recorded what she called the world’s “rhythmic vitality.” On view through February 9th, 2020, for more information, go to: https://www.portlandmuseum.org/exhibitions/barbara-morgan-letter-world

 

“Margot by the Shed” by Jack Montgomery (Courtesy of the artist and Maine Museum of Photographic Arts).

Maine Museum of Photographic Arts, Portland, Maine – In a collaboration with the Bates College Museum of Art, Jack Montgomery and Ralph Gibson: Appearances highlights the intersection of these two late career photographers who have sought an underlying truth about how the external communicates the internal. On view through January 27th, 2020, for more information, go to: http://www.mainemuseumofphotographicarts.org/new-page-1

Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts (RICPA), Providence, R.I. – A group exhibition, The Director’s Choice features work by the artists who have crafted the RICPA exhibitions mounted in 2019 and the ones to come in 2020, including Marky Kauffmann, Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, Stephen Fisher, Aline Smithson, Michael Itkoff, John Reuter, Yorgos Efthymiadis, Neal Rantoul, Mick Cochran and introducing partners for 2020, J. Sybylla Smith, Jesse Burke, Ann M. Jastrab and more. On view from January 16th – February 14th, 2020, there will be an Opening Reception on Thursday, January 16th, 2020 from 5:00 – 9:00pm. For more information, go to: https://www.riphotocenter.org/

EVENTS & CALLS OF SPECIAL INTEREST

Photo © 2016 Amilton Neves from “Godmothers of War”

Northshore Photography Lecture Series, Newburyport, MA – The Fine Art Documentary: Why beautiful pictures of war, poverty and disease matter will be presented by Glenn Ruga, Founder and Director, Social Documentary Network and Executive Editor, ZEKE Magazine and Barbara Ayotte, Communications Director, Social Documentary Network Editor, ZEKE Magazine, followed by Q&A on Wednesday, January 29th, 2020 from 7:00-8:30pm. For information and tickets, go to: http://sweethavengallery.com/?page_id=1815/#Fine

Newport Art Museum, Newport, R.I. – “The Newport artist residency, AiR/Newport is designed to encourage the creative, intellectual, and personal growth of emerging and established visual artists and designers by giving them the time, space, and solitude needed to create, apart from the daily demands of production and deadline.” The application deadline is February 15, 2020 for our first artist residency, which will be the month of June, 2020. For more information, go to: https://newportartmuseum.org/education/air-newport/

Feature Image: Alysia Macaulay, “Untitled,” 2010, from the series Night Light (courtesy of the artist).