What They Don’t See – view the online gallery below
February 3 – March 27, 2020
Nicholas Costopoulos, Byron Hocker, Elise LaMaster, Faith Ninivaggi
Curated by Jessica Burko, PRC Program Manager and Curator
Location:
University Hall, lower level gallery
1815 Mass Ave.
In a 1988 essay written by Emily Style, founder of The National SEED Project (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity), she describes a method of teaching, learning, and exploring identity by viewing oneself through windows and mirrors. This can be defined as being or becoming aware of how others see you, and how it may differ from how you see your true self. The concept as related to documentary photography connects the presentation of images to the stories they tell, especially in documenting one’s own life or that of a self-identified community whether family, friends, or strangers connected through commonalities. The photographers of What They Don’t See exemplify these notions through their raw honesty of image making with their own families, selves, and communities in the spotlight.
The exhibition features work by Nicholas Costopoulos and Elise LaMaster, students in the Lesley MFA in Visual Arts program, along with Byron Hocker and Faith Ninivaggi, candidates in the Lesley MFA Photography and Integrated Media program. The photographs in the exhibition chronicle personal stories of children and parents growing older, traditional gender roles as they are reinforced by religious identity, and the shaping of life by unforeseen circumstances. The work shifts between surface and experience as the viewer looks at and is brought into each narrative alternately as guest and voyeur.
– Jessica Burko, Curator
What They Don’t See
click a thumbnail below to view the exhibition: