Elizaveta Porodina: Un/Masked

The Hood Museum of Art will present the first major solo museum exhibition of photographs by Chemehuevi artist Cara Romero, titled Cara Romero: Panûpünüwügai (Living Light). The exhibition will be on view at the Hood Museum from January 18 through August 10, 2025, and will feature over 50 works, including several never-before-seen photographs, and site-specific installations that will invite the viewer behind the scenes to experience the sets of Romero's most iconic photographs. An exhibition catalogue co-published by the Hood Museum of Art and Radius Books will be released in June 2025. The exhibition is curated by Jami Powell, Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Indigenous Art at the Hood Museum of Art. Says Romero, "The Hood Museum of Art under the leadership of curator Jami Powell and director John Stomberg is an excellent example of how an American museum can create meaningful and positive impacts on Native community, representation, and living artists. When offered my first major solo show to commence at the Hood, I cried because I never imagined this was possible for a Native woman photographer in her 40s. I am so honored to collaborate with this institution and the people making it a major force in sidelining preconceived notions about Native American art." Adds Powell, "Cara Romero is an immensely generous storyteller, and her images invite people into complex and transformative dialogues about the histories and lives of Indigenous peoples. Romero's photographs provide opportunities for audiences to recognize the humanity of Native Americans and Indigenous peoples and ask questions they might otherwise be afraid to ask." Image: Cara Romero, Zenith, 2022 © Cara Romero

This exhibition features thirty-five photographs—self-portraits or portraits of other artists—which reflect radically new propositions for what a portrait might be. They foreground the idea that identity is fluid, bodies are malleable, and strangeness is common. Whether confessional or slyly secretive, each of these photographs offers new revelations to the viewer. Working against systems meant to define, categorize, and normalize, these artists have reclaimed the portrait to express themselves and realize a vision of self otherwise foreclosed. Strangers are not entirely unknown, rather they arrive unexpectedly and often disrupt expectations. An exchange of gazes—inquiring glances, defiant smirks, vulnerable stares—typically accompany such encounters. Since the advent of photography in the 1840s, artists have used the camera to portray themselves and others. Traditional aesthetic conventions guided many early photographers, though over time new approaches emerged from diverse historical contexts. The artworks in this exhibition—self-portraits or portraits of other artists—reflect radically new propositions for what a portrait might be. They foreground the idea that identity is fluid, bodies are malleable, and strangeness is common. Whether confessional or slyly secretive, each of these photographs offers new revelations to the viewer. Working against systems meant to define, categorize, and normalize, these artists have reclaimed the portrait to express themselves and realize a vision of self otherwise foreclosed. Collectively, they ask us to consider: How do we communicate the undeniable reality of our bodies and the stories they tell about us? What does it look like to come into being, to materialize—just as a photograph develops—within as well as outside the strictures of social norms? Hello, Stranger was co-curated by Isa Cruz ‘27 and Frank Goodyear, co-director, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, and supported by The Riley P. Brewster ’77 Fund. All works in this exhibition have been generously donated to the Bowdoin College Museum of Art by David and Gail Mixer. Image: Grete Stern and Ellen Auerbach (ringl + pit), Walter & Ellen Auerbach, London, ca. 1934, vintage silver print on paper. Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine. Gift of David and Gail Mixer. © ringl + pit, courtesy Robert Mann Gallery

Baxter St at the Camera Club of New York is pleased to present the inaugural exhibition at its new location at 154 Ludlow Street, The Lams of Ludlow Street, a solo exhibition by photographer Thomas Holton, presented as part of the organization’s Mid-Career Initiative. Spanning over two decades, this deeply personal body of work chronicles the evolving lives of a single Chinese-American family in Manhattan’s Chinatown, offering an intimate exploration of identity, belonging, and the everyday moments that shape our understanding of home. Since 2003, Holton has immersed himself in the life of the Lam family, capturing both the private and public dimensions of their world with an unfiltered, empathetic lens. What began as an artistic inquiry into his own Chinese heritage has evolved into a lifelong commitment to storytelling—one that reflects the complexities of family, migration, and cultural hybridity in contemporary America. A lifelong New Yorker of mixed Chinese and American descent, Holton has long grappled with a sense of detachment from his Chinese roots. His photographic journey with the Lams became both a creative and personal act of connection, a way to bridge the gaps in his own identity through the lens of another family’s experiences. The resulting images document adolescence, marriage, resilience, and the quiet, unscripted moments that define family life. Presented at a time when Chinatown, like many immigrant communities, faces profound social and economic shifts, The Lams of Ludlow Street serves as both a visual archive and a meditation on what it means to belong. Holton’s images remind us of the power of long-term storytelling—of what it means to bear witness to time, change, and human connection. About Thomas Holton Thomas Holton is a photographer and educator based in New York City. He received a BA from Kenyon College and a MFA in photography from the School of Visual Arts. His ongoing project, The Lams of Ludlow Street, has documented the life of a single Chinese-American family living in Manhattan’s Chinatown over 20 years. The project was published as a book in 2016 by Kehrer Verlag and has been shown in the United States and abroad at venues including The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, The Museum of the City of New York, the New York Public Library, and the Photoville photography festival . The work has also been featured by the New York Times, Aperture, The Guardian and many other periodicals. He has taught at the International Center of Photography and was co-founder of SVA’s VisuaLife photography program, working with at-risk teenagers in collaboration with the Children’s Aid Society in New York City. He is currently a photography educator in New York City where he lives with his family.

BAXTER ST at CCNY is pleased to announce the inaugural exhibition at its new location at 154 Ludlow Street with The Reinforcements, a solo presentation by 2024 BAXTER ST Resident Artist and writer Qiana Mestrich, opening June 4, 2025. A powerful series of photo collages begun in 2023, The Reinforcements visualizes the labor history of Black and immigrant women of color in the American corporate workplace. Drawing from archival images—including photographs of Mestrich’s own mother, who worked in sales at Rugol Trading Corporation in New York City in the late 1960s—the work explores the everyday realities and systemic inequities that have long defined professional life for women of color. This body of work stems from Mestrich’s broader, ongoing research project @WorkingWOC: Towards a History of Women of Color in the Workplace, an independent digital archive aimed at documenting and interpreting the role of women of color in the American labor force from the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to the early 2000s. Despite the founding of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1965, Black and other women of color continue to face racial and gender discrimination, limited pathways to leadership, and persistent wage inequality. In response to the absence of robust archival material addressing these inequities, Mestrich has created speculative visual narratives by collaging images from vintage fashion and office supply magazines. The resulting works are imagined interventions into a historical record that too often neglects the labor, agency, and ambitions of these women. The Reinforcements not only centers the experiences of its subjects but also asks viewers to reckon with the ongoing erasure of women of color in corporate and institutional histories. With this inaugural exhibition, Baxter St renews its commitment to presenting urgent, socially engaged work by emerging and mid-career lens-based artists. ABOUT QIANA MESTRICH Qiana Mestrich (b. 1977, NYC) is an interdisciplinary artist and photo historian whose work critically engages with themes of Black and mixed-race identity, motherhood, women’s labor, and the empowering role of fashion. Informed by her upbringing as the daughter of immigrants from Panama and Croatia, Mestrich’s artistic practice is complemented by significant contributions to the field of photography history. Her artwork has garnered international attention, with exhibitions at the RAY Fotografieprojekte Frankfurt/RheinMain and London Art Fair’s Photo50, and inclusion in collections such as the Peggy Cooper Cafritz collection. A graduate of the ICP-Bard College MFA program, her insightful perspectives have been recognized through awards like the 2025 Saltzman Prize and CPW Vision Award, as well as the 2022 Magnum Foundation’s Counter Histories grant for her research on women of color in the corporate workplace. Mestrich’s dedication to expanding the discourse around photography is evident in her 2007 founding of Dodge & Burn: Decolonizing Photography History. This groundbreaking initiative, which evolved from a blog into a vital critique group, actively championed photographers of color. Her newly released book (Routledge, March 2025), features 35 updated interviews from the blog along with 7 critical essays on photography. Mestrich lives and works between Brooklyn and New York’s Hudson Valley.

Hans P. Kraus Jr. is pleased to present the gallery’s summer show, Trios of Photographs by H. Fox Talbot, Julia Margaret Cameron, Sugimoto and others. Three kindred photographs by each of the featured artists and more are on view. Affiliated by subject or location, the juxtaposed pictures emphasize the artist’s acclaimed vision recording a single theme. Whether they are William Henry Fox Talbot’s photographs of his home at Lacock Abbey, Julia Margaret Cameron’s meditative evocations of legendary figures in her portraits of family and friends, displayed here to coincide with The Morgan Library’s remarkable Cameron exhibition, or Sugimoto’s Lightning Fields, inspired in part by Talbot’s research into static electricity, Trios focuses on the photographer’s evocation of a fascination with a theme to which he or she is repeatedly drawn. Also on display are Charles Marville’s pictures of lampposts and streets of Paris, Louis-Emile Durandelle’s official views of Garnier’s new Paris Opera and John Payne Jennings’ series of waterfall views in England’s Lake District. Hugo van Werden’s triptych of targets from the 1870s promoting the accuracy of munitions made by the German manufacturer Krupp are arresting precursors of conceptual art. Finally, the Yosemite Valley is represented by three superb mammoth plate albumen prints. Charles Weed’s famous 1864 view is shown together with two landscapes made by Eadweard Muybridge. Weed, a pioneer of photographing American scenery for its own sake, was the first ever to photograph the Yosemite region. William Henry Fox Talbot’s (1800-1877) Lacock Abbey, its grounds and architectural elements, is the subject of his earliest experiments and his greatest achievements. The Ladder, an especially rich 1844 salt print from a calotype negative, is one of Talbot’s most important images. Carefully composed to simulate live action, The Ladder is his first published photograph to include people. The Abbey’s south front and Sharington’s Tower are captured in two fine salt prints from calotype negatives. These views emphasize the personal stamp Talbot made to his ancestral home by remodeling the South front, alongside the Tower, to create an art gallery with its Oriel Window. Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879) sought to record the qualities of innocence, wisdom, piety or passion through her portraiture. Long exposure times and a shallow depth of field give Cameron’s figures their sense of animation and almost brings them into the viewer’s presence. Cameron's "The Kiss of Peace" takes its inspiration from a Tennyson poem. The 1869 albumen print of this on display is a fine example of what Cameron declared to be "the most beautiful of all my photographs." Made in 2009 from camera-less negatives, the capillary-like pathways of electrical current captured in Sugimoto’s (b. 1948) dynamic Lightning Fields were influenced by the electrical experiments of Ben Franklin, Michael Faraday and Talbot. Sugimoto’s striking gelatin silver prints are from negatives daringly made in his darkroom using a Van de Graaff generator to charge a metal wand with static. The “lightning field” is the spark created by Sugimoto once the electric charge reaches the desired strength, standing his hair on end. Image: The Kiss of Peace 1869 © Julia Margaret Cameron

Yancey Richardson is proud to celebrate our 30 year anniversary with a milestone exhibition bringing together works by all of the gallery’s artists and estates. Titled Celebrating 30 Years and co-curated by the artists themselves, the exhibition features works that speak across decades and through varying styles and technical approaches. The show highlights the breadth and diversity of the gallery’s roster and its steadfast commitment to supporting artists working in photography and lens-based media. Celebrating three decades as a pioneering exhibition space, one where the public has witnessed and engaged with the continued evolution of photography and artistic expression more broadly, the gallery has invited its artists to select work by their peers with whom they share creative affinities. The work on display reveals the gallery’s deep engagement with photography as both a historical and contemporary medium, with work made using classic darkroom techniques alongside multidisciplinary and experimental processes. Celebrating 30 Years includes work by Guanyu Xu selected by David Alekhuogie, David Alekhuogie selected by Mickalene Thomas, Mickalene Thomas selected by David Alekhuogie, Olivo Barbieri selected by Lynn Saville, Jared Bark selected by Rachel Perry, Omar Barquet selected by Mary Lum, Ori Gersht selected by Terry Evans, Terry Evans selected by Victoria Sambunaris, Mary Ellen Bartley selected by Ori Gersht, Lisa Kereszi selected by Sharon Core, Sharon Core selected by Hellen van Meene, Mitch Epstein selected by Lisa Kereszi, John Divola selected by Mitch Epstein, Tania Franco Klein selected by Laura Letinsky, Carolyn Drake selected by Tania Franco Klein, Sandi Haber Fifi eld selected by Bryan Graf, Bryan Graf selected by Yamamoto Masao, Jitka Hanzlová selected by Laura Letinsky, Anthony Hernandez selected by Olivo Barbieri, David Hilliard selected by Kahn & Selesnick, Laura Letinsky selected by Carolyn Drake, Matt Lipps selected by Guanyu Xu, Mary Lum selected by Omar Barquet, Esko Mannikko selected by Sharon Core, Andrew Moore selected by David Hilliard, Zanele Muholi selected by John Divola, Rachel Perry selected by Sandi Haber Fifi eld, Victoria Sambunaris selected by Anthony Hernandez, Lynn Saville selected by Andrew Moore, Mark Steinmetz selected by Victoria Sambunaris, Kahn & Selesnick selected by Jared Bark, Larry Sultan selected by Anthony Hernandez, Tseng Kwong Chi selected by Zanele Muholi, Hellen van Meene selected by Jitka Hanzlová, Yamamoto Masao selected by Mary Ellen Bartley, Pello Irazu selected by Jared Bark and Lynn Geesaman and Sebastião Salgado selected by Yancey Richardson. Over the past thirty years and nearly 290 exhibitions, Yancey Richardson has helped foster the careers of some of the most critically-acclaimed artists working today. The gallery opened in 1995 at 560 Broadway in SoHo with an exhibition by Sebastião Salgado. In 2000 the gallery relocated to 535 West 22nd Street in Chelsea, then a burgeoning arts neighborhood. Over the next 13 years, the gallery presented historically significant exhibitions with artists such as Lewis Baltz, William Eggleston and August Sander, along with exhibitions by artists such as Mitch Epstein, Zanele Muholi and Mickalene Thomas, who have been with the gallery ever since. In 2013 the gallery moved to 525 West 22nd Street, where it remains to this day. Since moving, the gallery has continued to grow and welcome new artists and estates to its roster, such as David Alekhougie, Omar Barquet, John Divola, Anthony Hernandez, Tania Franco Klein, Larry Sultan and Tseng Kwong Chi. In addition to maintaining long-term representation of a wide-ranging and international group of artists, such as Olivo Barbieri, Ori Gersht, Jitka Hanzlová, Sebastião Salgado, Hellen van Meene and Yamamoto Masao, the gallery has also mounted New York debut exhibitions for many artists who have gone on to achieve critical acclaim, such as David Alekhuogie, Carolyn Drake, Paul Mpagi Sepuya and Guanyu Xu. Understanding photography as always changing and in flux, the gallery has consistently welcomed artists to its roster who engage with the medium in an expanded way, as both a technical process and a historically-informed mode of perception. Alongside its support of emerging, mid-career and historically significant artists through exhibitions, the gallery has consistently supported the publication of monographs and photobooks as an essential expression of photography. Now representing over 40 artists and estates, Yancey Richardson continues to work tirelessly alongside museums and cultural institutions around the world to ensure that their artists reach the widest possible audience and that their achievements are promoted and their legacies safeguarded. Yancey Richardson stated, “Since the day we opened our doors in 1995, the gallery has remained committed to supporting and embracing photography across the widest possible spectrum, from modern masters to new and contemporary expressions. Though both the medium itself and society’s understanding of it has changed dramatically over the past 30 years, I have endeavored to keep the gallery as a space where those changes—where history itself—can be seen, felt and interacted with. To the extent that this has been achieved is due in no small part to the countless individuals who have worked with me over the years. Above all else, I wish to thank the artists who have entrusted us with their legacies and whose work continues to challenge us to see and think in diff erent ways, all while off ering a constant reminder of the power of art to help us understand the times in which we live.”. Image: Positive Disintegration (Self-portrait), from the series Positive Disintegration, 2016. Archival pigment print, 27 1/2 x 41 5/16 inches. © Tania Franco Klein

Pace is pleased to present an exhibition of work by Trevor Paglen at its 540 West 25th Street gallery in New York. On view from June 26 to August 15, this focused presentation will feature photographs of novel aerial phenomena captured by the artist in the American West over the last two decades. Bringing together a selection of prints and polaroids, this show will explore the relationships between UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) sightings, Artificial Intelligence, and the rise of disinformation in today’s media environment—which has all but obliterated the notion of ‘truth.’ As Paglen has said, we live in “a historical moment wherein our relationships to text, images, information, and media are being entirely upended,” and UFOs, deployed by the US military and intelligence agencies as psychological instruments since the 1950s, “blur lines between perception, imagination, and 'objective' reality, whatever that may or may not be.” The artist, whose rigorous practice spans photography, sculpture, video, and installation, is known for his investigations of invisible phenomena and forces, including technological, scientific, socio-political, and historical subjects. Through his work, Paglen has explored Artificial Intelligence, surveillance, data collection, and militarism in America, meditating on the ways these issues influence modes of perceiving and relating to the natural world—from the landscapes of the US to the cosmological realms beyond the Earth. “UFOs live in the latent space between the material, the sensible, and the perceptual,” Paglen said of his enduring interest in the history of UFO photography. “They inhabit the crossroads of fear, desire, logic, and hope. They produce communities of believers and debunkers, and dreams of divine salvation, endless energy, impossible physics, dark conspiracies, and existential fears.”

Guest curated by Wendy Ewald, Susan Meiselas, and Laura Wexler, along with Kristin Taylor, MoCP Curator of Academic Programs and Collections This exhibition will feature works in the MoCP permanent collection that are included in the recent and groundbreaking publication titled Collaboration: A Potential History of Photography. The book was created by a group of artists, art historians, activists, and scholars—Ariella Aïsha Azoulay, Wendy Ewald, Susan Meiselas, Leigh Raiford, and Laura Wexler—and published by Thames and Hudson in 2024. It is an extension of a project that these five authors have collaborated on for over ten years, in which they reassess a range of photographs and projects that portray stories of humanity and social movements to decenter the photographer as the only author of the image, and to emphasize the act of photographing as an inherently collaborative process in which many parties are involved. By sharing both artists’ statements and excerpts from interviews with people depicted in photographs, they question whether memories align: Did both sides remember the moment in the same way? How did the photographed feel about the photograph’s life after it circulated through art markets, print media, and online? And what role might the photograph have played in perpetuating harmful or liberatory narratives about specific histories, places, or individuals? The works—both historical and contemporary—are presented in clusters focused on topics, to highlight and propose questions about photographed moments of coercion, friendship, exploitation, community, and violence. The exhibition will also feature a reflection space for the audience engagement, as part of the project’s ongoing effort to consider the history of photography as a living and evolving entity that is unfixed and expanding as we learn more about the people, communities, and histories that images depict. MoCP is supported by Columbia College Chicago, MoCP Advisory Board, Museum Council, individuals, private and corporate foundations, and government grants. The 2024–2025 exhibition season is sponsored in part by the Efroymson Family Fund, Henry Nias Foundation, The Rowan Foundation, Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation, Pritzker Traubert Foundation, Comer Family Foundation, and Venable Foundation. This project is partially supported by a CityArts grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. MoCP acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council. Image: Wendy Ewald, Self-portrait reaching for the Red Star sky –Denise Dixon, from the “Portraits and Dreams” series, 1975-1982

In 1962, Joel Meyerowitz (b. 1938, The Bronx, New York; lives and works in London, England) made a life-changing decision to become a photographer. His unwavering commitment was perfectly suited to the camera, an instrument that captures fleeting moments of time and space with precision, freezing them into a permanent frame. This exhibition celebrates the NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale’s dedication to photography, spotlighting its recent acquisition of over 1,800 works from Meyerowitz’s archive. The artist is renowned for his early adoption of color photography in 1962, a move that helped pave the way for the medium’s acceptance in the art world. Meyerowitz’s expertise is evident in both the vibrant, immersive qualities of his color photographs and the subtle yet powerful nuances in his black-and-white prints. His true significance, however, lies in his exceptional ability to capture the perfect moment when shifting patterns, expressions, and light converge to form a complete image. His first major recognition came in 1964, when MoMA’s Director of Photography, John Szarkowski, included Meyerowitz in the influential exhibition *The Photographer’s Eye*, which also featured pioneers like Eugène Atget, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Robert Frank. Meyerowitz was placed in the section titled “Time Exposure,” a nod to his masterful handling of time within his work. Now, nearly six decades later, Meyerowitz’s work continues to resonate through its exploration of what Cartier-Bresson referred to as “the decisive moment.” This exhibition offers a chronological and thematic exploration of Meyerowitz’s oeuvre, allowing viewers to experience how his visual language has evolved over time, reflecting the fluidity of the present moment. This evolution builds on Szarkowski’s insight that a photograph captures only the time in which it was taken, referencing the past and future through its presence in the present. Additionally, the exhibition includes a selection of 'work prints' that highlight the temporal nature of photographic prints themselves. These prints reveal the impermanence of the medium, showcasing how some colors fade over time while others endure. The inclusion of prints bearing Meyerowitz’s personal annotations, along with multiple iterations of the same image, provides an intimate glimpse into the artist’s studio process, allowing viewers to trace his journey toward perfecting each image. Image: Joel Meyerowitz, Florida, 1978, 1978, Vintage RC print, 11 x 14 inches (27.9 x 35.5 cm), NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale; Gift of an anonymous donor.

We are thrilled to announce the artists of the 31st Annual Juried Members Exhibition. After selecting 68 images from almost 1500, from over 300 artists submitted, we are pleased to announce the members who will be featured on the walls of the Griffin Museum this summer. Stephen Albair, Julia Arstorp, Robert David Atkinson, Robin Bailey, Diana Bloomfield, Sally Chapman, Diana Cheren Nygren, Julia Cluett, Donna Cooper, Donna Dangott, Sandi Daniel, Adrienne Defendi, Becky Field, Preston Gannaway, Steve Goldband & Ellen Konar, Donna Gordon, Joe Greene, Jackie Heitchue, Judi Iranyi, Susan Isaacson, Marky Kauffmann, Susan Keiser, Lali Khalid, Karen Klinedinst, Brian Kosoff, Alison Lake, Celia Lara, Jeff Larason, Phil Lewenthal, Susan Lirakis, Landry Major, Fruma Markowitz, Cheryl Medow, Carolyn Monastra, Judith Montminy, C.E. Morse, Jim Nickelson, Charlotte Niel, David Oxton, Allison Plass, Robin Radin, Mary Reeve, Astrid Reischwitz, Nancy Roberts, Lee Rogers, Gail Samuelson, Gordon Saperia, Jeff Sass, Mari Saxon, Jeff Schewe, Li Shen, Anastasia Sierra, Frank Siteman, Stephanie Slate, Cynthia Smith, Janet Smith, Vanessa R. Thompson, Vaune Trachtman, Leanne S. Trivett, Leslie Twitchell, Terri Unger, Alan Wagner, Anne Walker, Suzanne Theodora White, Thomas Winter, Torrance York, Michael Young and Yelena Zhavoronkova Announcements about award winners will be made in July. Join is for the opening reception on July 11th from 6 to 8pm. Our juror will be in attendance. Thank you to Ann Jastrab from Center for Photographic Art, Carmel for a beautiful exhibition.

I would like to begin by thanking the many photographers who shared their work with me as part of this process. It was a tremendous pleasure to see such interesting and inspiring work; there was much more great work than I could possibly include. I want to acknowledge the trust and vulnerability that is required for artists to provide their artwork to a juror and allow their personal expressions to be reviewed; I am grateful for the opportunity to be enriched by the dedication and creativity of HCP's members. My approach to this exhibition was first to review all the works submitted and let the photographic themes emerge. After thinking about what had been shared, it seemed that there were two primary impulses. One was about asserting presence, a kind of activism of visibility. In the works I saw protest, strength, joy, and sorrow. The photographs stated, "I am here. We are here. We take up space. Our values matter. Through art we can create a presence to validate our unique perspectives and experiences." The range of issues depicted was expansive. Photographers communicated about Queer visibility; environmental change and the threat of fire; immigrant experiences and national identity; Black joy; non-normative male beauty and masculinity; violence against women; space simulation; and motherhood. Together the photographs create a chorus of voices. The other primary impulse was to explore beauty and wonder through photography and the particular magic of our medium. Here there were experiments with different processes and materials; the embrace of light and the many unexpected and dynamic things that happen when it passes through a lens; the true lusciousness of color and the way photographic materials record them; the beauty of photographic degradation and decay; the invitation of abstraction to engage with what might be happening; the depiction of movement; and the exploration of the limits of the photograph. Many photographs fit into both categories: infused with assertion, validation, and visibility combined with the magic and beauty of photography. I hope you enjoy the exhibition as much as I enjoyed getting to know the work! Dr. Rebecca Senf, Juror, Chief Curator at the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ Image: © Oskar Alvarado

The Griffin is pleased to present the work of Alina Saranti as part of our celebration of our member artists. Ms. Saranti was included in our 30th Annual Juried Members exhibition, winning the Directors Prize. In my project “Far From” I want to make visible what landscape photography can look like for a female photographer with child rearing responsibilities. I combine landscape photographs of the American West with embroidery to challenge the masculinity of traditional landscape photography and the myth of the West. Landscape photography was traditionally dominated by male photographers as it was deemed unsafe and impractical for women who were constrained to the domestic sphere, close to their housekeeping and child rearing duties. The myths of the American West, its rugged, open, wild landscape have also been closely associated with macho masculinity, the idea of the independent, tough man, ready to draw on his weapon, to conquer and defend the land. Landscape photography also contributed to the history of conquest of the West with its role in surveying and controlling.Embroidery, on the other hand, has been traditionally labelled as women’s work. It has been seen as something that women can do within the safety of the home, producing artifacts to decorate its interior, keeping them out of harm’s way and out of trouble, compatible with their domestic duties and especially child rearing as it can be put aside and resumed at will. Landscape photography was deemed too far, too dangerous, too incompatible with being a woman. Things have changed and landscape photography is open to female photographers now. Or is it? I made the black and white landscape photographs used in this project at the fringes of family trips. I embroidered them in the safety of my home, between school drops offs and pickups, kids’ illnesses, and school holidays, often with children in the same room, the work repeatedly interrupted and resumed. I am drawing on the history of embroidery as both a symbol of female submission and a weapon of resistance for women, and overlaying that to the masculinity of landscape photography and the American West. Stitching usually has to do with mending or embellishing; my marks are the feminine overlaying the masculine, they are imposing on it, cracking it open, splitting it apart, growing into it. About Alina Saranti – Alina Saranti is a Greek photographic artist currently living in Los Angeles, having also lived in the UK and Turkey. Her work begins autobiographically and explores the synergies and tensions between text and image, the physical alteration of the photographic print, as well as themes of motherhood, place, our inner and outer landscapes, the personal and political. After a ten-year career in journalism in Athens and London, writing mainly about international politics, she has shifted her focus to telling stories through photographic projects. Saranti received a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford, an MSc in International Relations from London School of Economics, and an MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography from London College of Communication, University of the Arts London (Distinction). Saranti has won Director’s Prize at the Griffin Museum’s Annual Juried Members Exhibition, Honorable Mention at the Julia Margaret Cameron Award and at the Los Angeles Center of Photography’s Annual Members Exhibition. She has exhibited in galleries and museums in Athens, Barcelona, Boston, Calgary and New York. Her work has been featured in numerous publications including The Boston Globe, Opt West, Aesthetica Magazine, Source, Black River Magazine, Global Zoo Zine, and the Imagined Landscape Journal.