An Expression of Absence

DORF proudly presents new work by multidisciplinary artist Táhila Moss in her solo exhibition, Without Borders / Sin Fronteras. Through this powerful exhibition, Táhila explores the intricate dynamics of land sovereignty and the enduring impact of colonial frameworks on ecosystems, Indigenous communities, and relationships with the natural world. Táhila’s work transcends human narratives by weaving together the interconnected lives of animals, plants, water, air, and land. Her photographs document life surrounding various locations along the United States/Mexico colonial border and includes scenes of the landscape, community gatherings, acts of care, and environmental resistance. Also depicted, the jarring presence of fences, borders, and other human-made structures emphasizes the profound disruption of ecosystems by exploitative entities who prioritize profit over the sacredness of the natural world. The imposition of human-made borders, both as a conceptual model and a physical barrier, reflects a colonial worldview that enables commodification of the natural world by fragmenting habitats, obstructing wildlife migration, and creating imagined hierarchies between humans and nature. These boundaries sever ancient ecological and migration pathways, weaken biodiversity, and undermine the delicate balance required for ecosystems to thrive. In her photographs, Táhila highlights sacred sites of the Esto’k Gna Nation (Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe) in the region widely known as Brownsville, Texas, and brings attention to their fight for sovereignty. This work is an expansion of Táhila’s ongoing project, created with support from World Monument Fund and Magnum Foundation as part of the 2022 World Monuments Watch, to document the lifeways and political actions of the Esto’k Gna people around Garcia Pasture. The World Monuments Watch is a proven tool for raising awareness about heritage places in need of protection while galvanizing action and support for their preservation. As guardians and stewards of Turtle Island, Indigenous practices center on reciprocal relationships with Mother Earth. Care, respect, and reciprocity are offered in exchange for what the land provides, fostering a sense of mutual responsibility. Without Borders / Sin Fronteras invites viewers to reimagine and heal their relationship with the natural world, and to honor the deep, sacred ties between Indigenous communities and the land.

“A quiet legacy passes between women through embroidery and handcraft—an inherited resistance. With each stitch, they inscribe their strength and stories, defying the oppressor in thread.” —Spandita Malik Robert Mann Gallery is pleased to present Spandita Malik’s debut solo exhibition with the gallery: Jāḷī—Meshes of Resistance, on view from April 3 - May 10, 2025. Malik, a visual artist from India, lives in New York and spends extended periods of time in India collaborating with a network of women she has formed with the help of several not-for-profit organizations. These organizations support women who are survivors of domestic and gender based violence. Through these organizations, women learn intricate embroidery skills, skills that will help them move towards financial independence. The portraits are made by Malik in the women’s homes, the subject is portrayed as they wish, some covering their faces, some directly gazing at the camera. The photographs are then transferred to Khadi: a hand-spun cloth made from natural fibers including cotton, and sometimes wool and silk. The khadi fabric itself differs from state to state, region to region, and each picture is transferred to khadi that is made local to where the photograph is taken. The powerful images depicted in this exhibition are a collaboration between artist and sitter. Malik asks the sitter to embroider their portrait, an invitation for the subject to have power over how they are perceived, to assert control over their own image. Focusing on women’s rights and the impact of violence against women, Malik’s poignant work was born in response to the government’s lack of action against cases of rape which made Malik acutely aware of how much these acts of violence have become the norm within the culture. These women’s stories are stitched into the fibers of the cloth, and once complete, the works travel thousands of miles arriving to Malik emboldened with emotion, stories, community and strength. The craft of creating, a collaborative act of resistance in itself. “The quiet meditative act of embroidery connects the community into a network with everyone actively taking part. Women mending things. Women holding each other. Each portrait is unique and so specific to each woman but together they form a quilt of interconnectedness, through each of their distinctions rises the relatable human story.” —Sarah Walko Born in India in 1995, Malik has a Bachelor of Design in Fashion from the National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi, India and a Masters of Fine Art in Photography from The Parsons School of Design, New York. Malik’s work has been widely exhibited nationally and internationally with recent solo exhibitions at The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO, Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts, Portland, OR and Baxter Street Camera Club, New York, NY among other locations.

The opening line of L.P. Hartley’s 1953 novel, The Go-Between, "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there," captures the complex and often elusive nature of history. It suggests that time alters our perception, making the past a distant, unfamiliar land. In contrast, William Faulkner’s famous assertion, "The past is never dead. It isn’t even past," implies that history remains ever-present, shaping the present in ways we may not always perceive. The artists featured in Time Travelers engage with these contrasting views, using their work to explore the interplay between memory, folklore, history, and the reclamation of lost or forgotten narratives. They reimagine elements of the past, often incorporating traditional craft techniques, repurposing antique objects, and reinterpreting ancient stories. Central to this exhibition are two large-scale installations, both part of the Art Center’s permanent collection: Cheese by Mika Rottenberg and The Boat People by Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn. Rottenberg’s Cheese, constructed from what appears to be old barn wood and small television monitors, draws inspiration from the real-life Sutherland sisters, who became famous for their long hair. In a surreal, offbeat twist, Rottenberg transforms the sisters into fairy-tale figures who literally produce food from their renowned hair. Her work touches on themes of objectification and commodification of women’s bodies, using humor to highlight the forgotten lives of individuals whose unique experiences still resonate today. Nguyễn’s The Boat People takes the viewer to the future, where a group of children explores a post-apocalyptic world. In this cinematic, episodic film, the children collect relics from a nearly lost history, attempting to piece together the past from the remnants they find. Their interactions with these objects are both existential and ritualistic, providing a poignant commentary on the way history is interpreted through fragments and memory. As viewers, we are invited to reflect on the very real tragedies these children can only begin to understand, creating a powerful connection between the past and present. Image: The Boat People (film still), 2020 © Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn

1000 Dreams seeks to change harmful refugee narratives through a storytelling project that tells the stories of 1000 refugees across the world. 1000 Dreams is entirely authored by storytellers with a refugee background. Witness Change, the organization behind 1000 Dreams believes that for the narrative to change, the lives of refugees have to be authentically represented – their voices must be heard. They have hosted a series of intensive storytelling workshops, training people with refugee backgrounds on how to make portraits and conduct interviews. With these new skills, the refugee storytellers collect testimonies from other refugees. Their stories amplify the voices of refugees and provide insights into their individual lives and the emotional impact of current policies and attitudes. About Witness Change: Witness Change (@witness_change) produces highly visual storytelling on seldom-addressed human rights abuses. The non-profit organization exists to improve life for marginalized groups by amplifying their stories. Their projects have reached more than 250 million people worldwide and have been on the cover of National Geographic and Time magazine. Witness Change’s current projects include Where Love Is Illegal, stories of discrimination and survival from the LGBTQI+ community, and In My World, a campaign to amplify stories of people living with mental health, psychosocial, intellectual, and cognitive disabilities.

Scott Strong Hawk Foster, a Native American photographer with proud ancestral ties to the Hassanamisco Nipmuc, Mohegan, and Cherokee nations, brings his deeply personal vision to the Central Massachusetts Artist Initiative (CMAI). His installation showcases a selection of images from his ongoing series, Ways of My Ancestors – We Are Still Here, a powerful tribute to the strength, pride, and enduring presence of the Eastern Woodlands People of Southern New England. Foster’s work predominantly features Nipmuc(k) individuals, the original stewards of Central Massachusetts, northern Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Through his lens, he captures both the resilience and cultural richness of his community, ensuring their stories and traditions remain visible and honored in the present day. Image: Scott Strong Hawk Foster, Scrapping, Herring Pond, September 3, 2023, archival inkjet photograph. Courtesy of the artist. © Scott Strong Hawk Foster

Dawoud Bey: Street Portraits is the first standalone museum show to explore a transformational phase of the celebrated photographer and 2017 MacArthur Fellow Dawoud Bey's work. The show features 38 portraits he took between 1988 and 1991, when he collaborated with Black Americans of all ages whom he met on the streets of various American cities. He asked a cross section of people in these communities to pose for him, creating a space of self-presentation and performance in their urban environments. Bey used a large format tripod-mounted camera and a unique positive/negative Polaroid film that created both an instant print and a reusable negative. Bey considers photography an ethical practice that requires collaboration with his subjects. As part of every encounter, he gave each person a small black-and-white Polaroid print as a way of reciprocating and returning something to the people who allowed him to make their portrait.. Street Portraits is organized by the community the photographs were taken in: Brooklyn; Washington, D.C.; Rochester; Amityville; and Harlem. Defying racial stereotypes, the resulting photographs reveal the Black subjects in all of their psychologically rich complexity, presenting themselves openly and intimately to the camera, the viewer, and the world. Image: Young Man Resting on an Exercise Bike, Amityville, NY, from the series Street Portraits, 1988. Pigment print. Courtesy of the artist and Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago. © Dawoud Bey

The years 2024 and 2025 mark the 60th anniversaries of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, two landmark pieces of legislation that fundamentally changed life in the United States for many marginalized groups, including people of color, women, individuals with disabilities, the elderly, and others previously denied equal rights. These Acts represented the culmination of nearly a century of advocacy and activism. By Dawn’s Early Light reflects on the historical backdrop that led to these transformative laws, drawing from the U.S. Constitution's Preamble and the rights laid out in the First, Second, and Fourteenth Amendments. Each gallery of the exhibition showcases selections from the Nasher's permanent collection that engage with these foundational documents, exploring questions about nation-building, the right to assemble, the ownership of weapons, the pursuit of the American dream, and the ongoing process of defining "we the people." The exhibition encourages viewers to consider what values they hold dear and how they use their voices to safeguard those values when casting their votes. The title of the exhibition, drawn from the national anthem, serves as a metaphor for a new beginning, symbolizing the hope for fresh opportunities to collectively imagine and shape a better future. Featured artists include Kathryn Andrews, Adrián Balseca, Bill Bamberger, Roger Brown, Diego Camposeco, Kennedi Carter, Mel Chin, Dario Escobar, Leonard Freed, Genevieve Gaignard, Scherezade Garcia, Titus Brooks Heagins, Barkley L. Hendricks, Ken Heyman, Henry Horenstein, Dapper Bruce Lafitte, Michelangelo Lovelace, Danny Lyon, Mary Ellen Mark, Vik Muniz, Kambui Olujimi, Bill Owens, Gordon Parks, Fahamu Pecou, Ad Reinhardt, Gary Simmons, Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, Erika Stone, Lou Stouman, Sage Sohier, Sarah Sudhoff, Hank Willis Thomas, Burk Uzzle, Nari Ward, Antoine Williams, Fred Wilson, Purvis Young, and George Zimbel. Image: Diego Camposeco, Tabaco (Tobacco) from the series Diego Saves the World, 2015 (printed 2016). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Museum purchase, 2021.11.2. © Estate of Diego Camposeco. Image courtesy of the artist’s estate.

In 1955, two photographers received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation for U.S. survey projects: Robert Frank and Todd Webb. Frank’s cross-country trip by car would result in the celebrated book “The Americans.” Webb was awarded a grant to walk, boat, and bike across the United States to depict “vanishing Americana, and the way of life that is taking its place.” Though the men had no knowledge of each other during the application process, both secured a recommendation from famed photographer Walker Evans, and both completed their cross-country surveys—though in radically different ways. Frank’s resulting work became a landmark text in the history of photography, and Webb’s project remains almost entirely unknown. Robert Frank and Todd Webb: Across America, 1955 brings together both 1955 projects for the first time. In some instances, Frank’s and Webb’s images are strikingly similar—both men took photographs of the highway and dim, smoky barrooms. Because each was unaware of the other’s work, these similarities can be traced to popular cultural trends and shared ideologies. Both men, after all, engaged in projects that challenged the idealistic purity of the “American Roadtrip.” Radically different photographs made in the same location reveal the photographers’ diverse perspectives and approaches. Frank’s grainy, off-kilter style was matched with his harsh examination of the darker side of American life. An immigrant born in Switzerland, Frank (1924–2019) harnessed his outsider perspective. The tender, carefully composed images created by Detroit-born Webb (1905–2000) celebrated the individual oddities of the American way of life. Ultimately, comparing the work of these photographers reveals the complexity of their projects and the impossibility of capturing a singular vision of “America.” Image: Between Lovelock and Fernley, NV 1956 © Todd Webb Archives

A Breathtaking holds a peculiar power in its unfinished nature. On one hand, it speaks to the majestic and sublime, suggesting visions of grandeur that take the breath away in awe and admiration. On the other, it hints at a sudden interruption, a gasp at realizing the meaning of fragility. The unfinished phrase becomes a lens into emotional landscapes that leave us suspended between beauty and the unknown. ​ Julien Chatelin’s exhibition reflects this very tension, offering a poetic exploration of the ephemeral, the delicate, and inevitable transformations. His images carve out spaces of openness and suspense, leaving room for infinite possibilities while subtly hinting at loss or silence. ​ The works on view delve into territories in transition, where contrasting forces collide. Topographies are charged with opposing energies, revealing a silent battle between cities and nature, humanity and its environment. These spaces carry a profound ambivalence, suggesting both fecundity and sterility, promise and emptiness. In this interplay, Chatelin explores the tension between stillness and movement, the visible and the invisible, the vast and the intimate, capturing the fractured realities of contemporary society. Through the dual display of vernacular and the distress of fragmented societies, A Breathtaking offers a singular reading into capitalist development, inviting reflection on the complexities of growth and decay. Meaning, in this exhibition, is not made through completion but through the spaces in between, where contradictions find their voic

Penumbra Foundation proudly presents The Puppet Master, a solo exhibition by Diana Michener. This evocative series delves into the complex dynamics between a father and daughter, exploring themes of control, intimacy, and silent understanding. Michener describes the project as a mysterious collaboration between the two figures: “The daughter became the puppet, the father the puppeteer. They worked in silence, each following an unspoken script. They had their own intentions—just as I had mine.” These enigmatic photographs invite viewers to reflect on the unseen forces shaping relationships, leaving space for personal interpretation. “Photography thrives on open narratives,” Michener explains. “You may not see my story, but perhaps you will see your own—and that excites me.” The Puppet Master will be on view from February 27 through May 15, 2025. About the Artist Diana Michener (b. 1940, Boston) is an acclaimed photographer known for her introspective and poetic imagery. Based in Paris and Walla Walla, Washington, she studied at Barnard College in New York before refining her craft under the mentorship of Lisette Model at the New School for Social Research. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including the retrospective Silence Me at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP) in Paris (2001), Morning After Morning at the Photo Museum of Ireland (2001), Dogs, Fires, Me at Pace/MacGill in New York (2005), Figure Studies at Nature Morte in Berlin (2010), and Anima, Animals at MEP (2016–2017). Michener’s photographs are held in major museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Centre Pompidou, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She has published extensively with Steidl, producing numerous books such as Silence Me (2001), Dogs, Fires, Me (2005), Figure Studies (2011), A Song of Life (2018), Trance (2020), Bones (2022), Mortes (2023), and Mirror (2024).

Luke Oppenheimer is a documentary photographer and visual storyteller from rural Oklahoma, with a background in agroforestry and sustainable farming. His work explores the relationships between rural communities, the landscapes they inhabit, and the wildlife they coexist with, revealing how these forces shape each other’s destinies. Having lived and worked extensively across Latin America, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia, Luke’s photography is deeply rooted in personal connections and immersive storytelling. Ottuk chronicles life in a small shepherding village in the Tien Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan. What began as a month-long project in 2020 grew into a five-year immersion, during which Luke was welcomed into the community and adopted by a local family. The series captures the villagers’ struggles and joys, shaped by their dependence on livestock, resilience against unforgiving winters, and the enduring traditions that guide their way of life.

For Shore|Lines, Chicago-based artist Regina Agu (b. Houston, Texas) presents a large-scale panoramic installation at the Museum of Contemporary Photography as part of an exploration of placemaking and community memory—tracing sites and legacies of historical Black North American migration through an expansive tradition of the panoramic form. This Joyce Foundation Award (2023) special project and collaboration, focuses on connecting the landscapes, materiality, and human histories of the Gulf South region to the Great Lakes. Drawing on methods of field work and landscape photography, Shore|Lines examines waterways and natural environments as defining sites of Black life and belonging. This investigation grounds itself in close conversation with Chicago-area land and Great Lakes region environmental advocates and ecologists of color—community historians and academics, members of sailing clubs, librarians, archivists, geographers, and families that live and work along these long-storied bodies of water. The exhibition includes an artist book” documentation that Agu refers to as a “field guide,” connecting her Midwest and Gulf South experiences of the landscapes. Shore|Lines is proud to bring together discourses of Black geographies, landscape photography, and site-specific land histories, using the methodology of landscape panorama as a format for relating ideas and themes of Black cultural memory connected to place. This project uniquely explores and documents a nuanced assemblage of sociocultural geographies and cultures that connect to the Great Migration of the 20th century, in a way that is rarely considered within the wider visual lore or heritage narrative of the Great Lakes. Asha Iman Veal, MoCP Associate Curator. Regina Agu (American, b. Houston) is a visual artist, writer, and researcher based in Chicago, IL. Agu was raised between the United States, the Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, South Africa, and Switzerland. Her interdisciplinary practice includes conceptual and material inquiries into memory, history, representation, and Black geographies. Her work has been exhibited at the New Orleans Museum of Art, New Museum, The Drawing Center, the High Line, Project Row Houses, FotoFest, the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, among other venues. Agu is a 2023 Joyce Award winner with the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago. Agu has received an Artadia Houston award, grants from Houston Arts Alliance, The Idea Fund, a SEED grant from The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and the Center for Art and Social Engagement at the Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts and Project Row Houses fellowship at the University of Houston for her research project Friends of Emancipation Park. Agu holds a BS from Cornell University and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.