Winchester

We are thrilled to announce the artists of the 31st Annual Juried Members Exhibition.

After selecting 65 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, 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, Alison Plass, Robin Radin, Mary Reeve, Astrid Reischwitz, Nancy Roberts, Lee Rogers, Gail Samuelson, Jeff Sass, Mari Saxon, Jeff Schewe, 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 4 to 6pm. Our juror will be in attendance.

Thank you to Ann Jastrab from Center for Photographic Art, Carmel for a beautiful exhibition.

Ann M. Jastrab is the Executive Director at the Center for Photographic Art (CPA) in Carmel, California. CPA strives to advance photography through education, exhibition and publication. These regional traditions — including mastery of craft, the concept of mentorship, and dedication to the photographic arts — evolved out of CPA’s predecessor, the renowned Friends of Photography established in 1967. While respecting these West Coast traditions, CPA is also at the vanguard of the future of photographic imagery. Before coming onboard at CPA, Ann worked as the gallery director at RayKo Photo Center and the gallery manager at Scott Nichols Gallery, both in San Francisco.

What makes a family? How do we define community? These fundamental questions are explored in the exhibition Nuclear Family, which re-imagines the concept of family, expanding our vision beyond traditional norms through the lens of LGBTQIA+ artists.

Traditional family values. The universal phrase for how we perceive and accept families in public. We are reminded of the standard visual narrative of a family as two heterosexual parents and their children. Family dynamics are complicated, not all of us fit into this vision of perceived perfection. In expanding the idea of family, we see these photographers present honest and authentic portrayals of themselves, their families and the broader community, challenging viewers to confront their own biases and assumptions through fresh eyes. 

Featuring a diverse range of photographic and video works, the exhibition presents a compelling exploration of diverse family structures. Jess Dugan‘s A Letter to My Daughter is a poignant video essay that delves into the joys and challenges of parenthood. Mengwen Cao‘s Liminal Space celebrates the everyday beauty, intimacy, and resilience of queer and trans people of color, with a particular focus on Asian queer identities. Yorgos Efthymiadis‘ Lighthouse Keepers offers a series of intimate portraits of friends in their own spaces, providing a glimpse into the artist’s personal connections and his shared community. Laurence Philomene‘s vibrant and colorful images serve as a visual diary reflecting their environment and their own trans and non-binary identity. Anne Vetter‘s Love is not the Last Room explores themes of gender, attachment, and family through intimate portraits of themselves and their partner. Matthew Leifheit‘s Queer Archives delves into LGBTQIA+ history through objects and archives that remind the community of its origins and those who came before.

These artists utilize photography and video not only to document their lives but also to challenge societal norms and celebrate the diversity of love and family structures. By reclaiming the genre of portraiture, often used to uphold traditional ideals, they create powerful and moving works that resonate with viewers on a deeply personal level.

Nuclear Family was conceived and created by curator and artist Katalina Simon, in collaboration with Crista Dix, Executive Director of the Griffin Museum, and exhibition designer Yana Nosenko.

More about the artists of Nuclear Family –

Mengwen Cao | Liminal Space

“Liminal Space” is a visual meditation on the everyday beauty, intimacy, and resilience of queer and trans people of color, with a focus on Asian queer identities. Through a tender gaze, these images capture moments of becoming and summon futures rooted in joy, connection, and care.

The project began as a way to connect with my community and evolved into an exploration of belonging, healing, and self-love. Each portrait embodies a collaborative process, inviting people to imagine themselves in a way that feels safe, authentic, and expansive. These moments of introspection become portals: spaces where individual transformation and collective belonging can thrive.

In a world that often amplifies extremes, “Liminal Space” aims to normalize queer existence beyond spectacle or struggle. By sharing these tender moments, I hope to offer a counter-narrative—one that embraces the multiplicity of our identities while celebrating the beauty of the in-between.

About Mengwen Cao

MENGWEN CAO (they/them) is an artist, educator and somatic coach creating multimedia portals for personal and collective transformation. Born and raised in Hangzhou, China, they are currently nomadic with roots in New York and Chiang Mai. Weaving their embodied experience as a Chinese diasporic queer into their spiritual and creative practices, they use care and tenderness to explore in-between spaces. They see photography as a vehicle for healing and a tool to visualize the future.

Jess T. Dugan | Letter to my Daughter

Letter to My Daughter is an autobiographical video directed to my five-year-old daughter, Elinor, that centers around my experience with parenthood throughout the first five years of her life. The audio soundtrack is my voice reading a letter to Elinor, and the images are from my personal archive and include snapshots, ultrasound images, and photographs from Family Pictures.The letter is highly personal and addresses a variety of topics, including my expectations around parenthood, the long and circuitous journey of trying to have a child with both known and anonymous sperm donors, the experiences of miscarriage and loss, and my adjustment to parenthood as a queer and nonbinary person. Perhaps most importantly, it tries to put into words the intensity of love between a parent and child as well as the significant personal growth parenthood both inspires and requires.Letter to My Daughter is part of my larger exploration of family. It is in dialogue with my 2017 video,Letter to My Father, which explores my estranged relationship with my father, as well as my long-term series of photographs Family Pictures(2012-present),which focuses on the intimacy of familial relationships, aging, and the passage of time through an extended look at three generations of my family.

About Jess T. Dugan

Jess T. Dugan (b. 1986, Biloxi, MS) is an artist and writer whose work explores the complexities of personhood, relationships, desire, love, and family. While their practice is centered around photography, it also includes writing, video, sound, drawing, and installation. Their work is informed by their own life experiences, including their identity as a queer and nonbinary person, and reflects a deep belief in the importance of representation and the transformative power of storytelling.  

Their work is regularly exhibited internationally and is in the permanent collections of over 60 museums. Their monographs include Look at me like you love me (MACK, 2022), To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults (Kehrer Verlag, 2018) and Every Breath We Drew (Daylight Books, 2015). They are the recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, an ICP Infinity Award, and were selected by the Obama White House as an LGBT Artist Champion of Change. 

They currently live and work in St. Louis, MO.

Yorgos Efthymiadis | The Lighthouse Keepers

Whenever I travel back to my country, it feels like I come across a shoebox in the back of my childhood bedroom closet, full of memorabilia I didn’t know were there. As soon as I open the box, an inner whisper says “I will remind you of everything.”

There is an instant rush of fond memories of the house I grew up in by the sea and of the maze-like city I moved to when I got older. But mostly, of family and friends: the people that I care for and who have always been there for me since the beginning. The ones I take for granted.

Growing up, so many of us were queer in our seaside town we joked “it must be in the water.” Some have left, many have stayed. Like everyone else, from the proud “mother” of the village who helped most of us come out, to the sentimental ones that are still hanging onto a past that is no longer there, we are struggling in our own way. Loneliness, isolation, decline. Secrets and regrets. But each one a lighthouse keeper. Strong and resilient, fragile and tender, always there to help, guiding each other through life, and reminding me of where I belong.

About Yorgos Efthymiadis

Yorgos Efthymiadis is an artist/curator from Greece who resides in Somerville, MA. A board member of Somerville Arts Council and founder of The Curated Fridge, an independent gallery that celebrates fine art photography, Efthymiadis is a recipient of the 2025 James and Audrey Foster Prize, an awardee of the Artist’s Resource Trust A.R.T. Grant in 2024, a finalist for the 2017 Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship, and a recipient of the St. Botolph Club Foundation 2017 Emerging Artist Award. This project has been supported by a grant from the Artist’s Resource Trust.

Matthew Leifheit | Queer Archives

Since 2021 Matthew Leifheit has traveled the country visiting and photographing in queer archives. Leifheit describes: “During the 1970s and 80s, independent archives were established by LGBTQ Americans to collect materials that major institutions would not. These materials—pictures, letters, T shirts, protest signs, ephemera, and the like—document queer culture and identity in the 20th century, in relation to the rise of the US gay rights movement. More importantly, they contain the evidence of many peoples’ lives who would otherwise be lost to history, for reasons ranging from homophobia to racial prejudice, sexism and AIDS.”

Leifheit’s Queer Archive asks us to consider what is worth keeping, how histories are made and told, who gets to hold them, and who is able to seek out and find them.
These photographs dramatize the limits of immortality as we attempt to access it through media.

Text by Rachel Stern, Curator, MassArt Museum exhibition, 2024

About Matthew Leifheit

Matthew Leifheit is an American photographer, magazine editor, and professor based in Brooklyn, New York. A graduate of Rhode Island School of Design and the Yale School of Art, Leifheit is Editor-in-Chief of MATTE Magazine, the journal of emerging photography he has published since 2010. Leifheit’s photographs have appeared in publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, Aperture, TIME, and Artforum, and have been exhibited internationally. His work has been supported by residencies at the Corporation of Yaddo and The Watermill Center, receiving grants from the New York State Cultural Council and the Fund for Lesbian and Gay Studies at Yale, where he was awarded the Richard Benson Prize in 2017. He is currently full-time faculty at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston.

Laurence Philomene |

In recent years, I have challenged myself to take daily pictures to document my evolving sense of self as a non-binary person undertaking hormonal replacement therapy. The resulting photos look at transition beyond the physical, into the intimate and domestic aspects of life viewers are rarely granted access to. Individually, each photo tells the story of a small moment, but when juxtaposed with one another, context is gained and a new, more powerful narrative is created : one of creating a home both within my environment and my body.

Growing up, the only access I had to queer history was through photography books I borrowed at the library. In lieu of institutional recognition, a lot of our history as marginalized folks is passed down through self-documentation as a means of reclaiming our narrative, which is something that’s always been fascinating to me. I think of the freedom to create our own story as an integral part of embodying queerness.

About Laurence Philomene

Laurence Philomene is a non-binary artist from Montreal (b.1993) who creates colourful photographs informed by their lived experiences as a chronically ill transgender person. Their practice celebrates trans existence, and studies identity as a space in constant flux via highly-saturated, cinematic, and vulnerable images.

Laurence’s first monograph Puberty – in which the artist self-documents two years of their life as they undergo hormonal replacement therapy – was published in 2022 by Yoffy Press.

Anne Vetter | love is not the last room

Vetter’s series “Love is Not the Last Room” is made in collaboration with the artist’s family—their parents, their brothers, and their partner. It is an examination of play and leisure, tension and freedom. Through photographs, Vetter processes how they learned to relate in their most intimate connections, and how they relate now. This project explores queer familial relationships, and uses Vetter’s own gender fluidity as a lens to examine the gendered experiences of their family members.

About Anne Vetter

Anne Vetter (b. 1994) lives and works in California and Massachusetts. They are currently a MFA candidate at UCLA (2026). They are a Jewish-American artist. Their work is focused on play, permission, desire and performance. 

We are pleased to partner with Digital Silver Imaging to print the images for the exhibition.

The Griffin Museum is excited to showcase the collection of artist and collector, Frazier King. Known to emerging, mid career and established artists of the medium, Frazier has spent a lifetime supporting, collecting and collaborating with photographers celebrating the craft and artistry of photography.

The collection of Frazier King is a reflection of his interactions with his fellow contemporary photographers over the last 20 years, King has collected black and white as well as color prints focusing on the constructed photograph. This collection provides a unique record of the various ways of constructing an image, and the evolution of this genre over the last decades.  The collection was originally presented by FotoFest in 2012 in an exhibition entitled The Collector’s Eye II.  Subsequently, King produced a book in conjunction with FotoFest entitled The Collector’s Eye—A Photographer’s View of His Contemporaries.

King explains that he uses an intuitive process in developing both his collection and his photographic practice.  The collection springs from his personal exchanges with various photographers in the context of FotoFest Meeting Place, as well as in his role as an active member of the board of the Houston Center for Photography and his own photographic practice.  King, who worked as an energy lawyer in Houston, created several projects using constructed images and his photography has been shown worldwide and is included in a number of important museum collections.  

The collection is grouped according to the methods of construction and, as a collector, gives his interpretation of each one of them. His collection includes prints by Roberto Fernández Ibáñez, Jerry Uelsmann, Diane Ducruet and others, who constructed their photographs in the printing process. The largest portion of the constructed photographs in King’s collection consists of prints resulting from a construction in front of the camera – Elaine Duigenan, Pavel Baňka, John Chervinsky, and Susan Dunkerley Maguire are just a few, who bring inanimate objects to life, play with scale, use scanners rather than a camera and use unusual materials to physically construct a representation of a particular object or series of objects.

About Frazier King

Frazier King is a photographer, collector and curator, living and working in Houston, TX.  His photography work focuses on constructed still life and some bodies are produced using film and gelatin silver prints while others are produced using digital capture and archival pigment prints.  “The Seven Deadly Sins” series is his most recent work, produced in 2022.  Over the last 25 years he has exhibited in numerous solo and group shows in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, France, and Belgium.  His work is included in the collections of many individuals and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Harry Ransom Center, Austin, TX; George Eastman House, Rochester, NY; Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, France; and Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  He has been a collector since the 1990s.  His collection was shown by FotoFest in 2012 in “The Collector’s Eye II” exhibition.  Subsequently, he produced in conjunction with FotoFest and Schilt Publishing a book entitled “The Collector’s Eye—A Photographer’s View of His Contemporaries,” showing his collection and featuring essays by Wendy Watriss, co-founder of FotoFest, Madeline Yale Preston, former Executive Director of the Houston Center of Photography and now independent curator, and himself, addressing the nature of the collection and its acquisition.  The book is entitled “The Collector’s Eye—A Photographer’s View of His Contemporaries.”  During his 15 years serving as a member of the board of directors of HCP, he curated or co-curated exhibitions and participated as a reviewer in photography portfolio review events around the world.  

In the darkness of winter, we search for the light. Our Winter Solstice Members Exhibition brings together our community, lighting up the museum with images, ideas, and boundless creativity, celebrating the works of our photo community in all of its splendor.

This annual celebration highlights the medium of photography in all of its forms. We love sharing your vision with the world, and look forward to our annual gathering of images, ideas and vision.

This exhibition is also an online showcase, with multiple pages. Take a look at all of the talented artists and images that will fill the walls of the museum in December.

Edition 1 (this page) | Edition 2 | Edition 3 | Edition 4

This year’s Annual Winter Solstice Members Exhibition will be held in the main gallery from December 13, 2024 — January 12, 2025.

Participating Artists (Listed Alphabetically by First Name):
Adele Quartley Brown, Adrien Bisson, Alan Richards, Alexandra Frangiosa, Alison Lake, Allyson Ely, Amanda Heck, Anastasia Sierra, Angela Rowlings, Ania Moussawel, Ann Boese, Anna Litvak-Hinenzon, Audrey Gottlieb, Austin Bryant, Becky Behar, Beth Luchner, Betty Stone, Bill Clark, Bonnie Newman, Bremner Benedict, Brynne Quinlan, Caren Winnall, Cassandra Goldwater, Catherine Panebianco, Cathy Cone, Charles Maniaci, Charlotte Toumanoff, Chen Gao, Cheryl Clegg, Christopher Weikart, Connor Archambault, Corinne Adams, Cyd Peroni, Cynthia Smith, Dafna Steinberg, Dale Niles, David Donnelly, David Rabkin, Dawn Watson, Diana Cheren Nygren, Diana Nicholette Jeon, Diane Hemingway, Diana Noh, Donna Dangott, Donna Gordon, Donna Tramontozzi, Douglas Lutz, Duygu Aytaç, Edie Clifford, Elizabeth Corcoran-Hunt, Elizabeth Hopkins, Elizabeth Wiese, Ellen Feldman, Eric Luden, Erik Gehring, Erin Menatian, Fruma Markowitz, Gail Fischer, Gary Beeber, George Imirzian, Grant Halsey, Heather Pillar, Holly Worthington, Hope Schreiber, Jack Doerner, Jaimie Ladysh, Jaina Cipriano, James Collins, Jamie Hankin, Janice Koskey, Jane Waggoner Deschner, Janet Smith, Janis Hersh, Jeanette Pivor, Jeanne Carey, Jeff Larason, Jessica Cardelucci, Jeffrey Mark Dunn, Jen Bilodeau, Jennifer Erbe, Jessica Burko, Jesus Rios Cozzetto, Joan Kocak, Joe Greene, John Brenton, Jonathan Sachs, Jose Ney Mila Espinosa, Joseph S. Lieber, Joy Bush, Judi Iranyi, ​​Judith Montminy, Julia Arstop, Julia Buteux, Julia Cluett, Julianne Snow Gauron, Julie Broderick, Karen Elizabeth Baker, Karen Hosking, Karen Matthews, Karin Rosenthal, Kay Mathew, Kaya Sanan, Kelly Conlin, Ken Rothman, Kermit Lehman, Kevin Belanger, Khim Mata Hipol, Kiyomi Yatsuhashi, Larry Smukler, Laura Ferraguto, Law Hamilton, Lauren J Piper, Lawrence W. Osgood, Leann Shamash, Leanne Trivett S., Lee Cott, Lee Rogers, Lidia Russell,  Liliana Caruana, Linda Hammett Ory, Linda Haas, Linda Plaisted, Lisa Liberetto, Lisa McCarty, Lisa Paulette Silberman, Lisa R. Reisman, Lisa Redburn, Lisa Spencer, Lisa Tang Liu with J. David Tabor — Alchemy of the Unknowns) Laurie Peek, Lucia Ravens, Lynn Saville, Lynne Breitfeller, Marcy Juran, Meg Birnbaum, Marcie Alkema, Marky Kauffmann, Margaret Rizzuto, Mari Saxon, Marilyn Canning, Marjorie Gillette  Wolfe, Mark Eshbaugh, Mark Levinson, Martha Volcker, Martha Wakefield, Mary Pat Reeve, Mary Presson Roberts, Matthew Herrmann, Maura Conron, Megan Riley, Michael Brown, Michael Burka, Michael Lynch, Michael Stepansky, Nadira Gupta, Natalie McGuire, Naomi Soto, Neelakantan Sunder, Nicholas T. Jones (TEEJ), Nikita Mash, Nina Menconi, Pamela Pecchio, Parrish Dobson, Pat Corlin, Patricia Scialo, Peter J Baumgartner, Tony Loreti, Pip Shepley, Rachel Portesi, Ralph Mercer, Rebecca Skinner, Ricardo Pontes, Robert Morin, Bob Reasenberg, Robin Radin, Robin Z. Boger, Rohina Hoffman, Ronald D. Butler, R. Lee Post, Ryck Lent, Sally Ann Field, Sally Bousquet, Sally Chapman, Sally J. Naish, Sandra Pike, Sandra Chen Weinstein, Sandy Hill, Sara Silks, Sarah Christianson, Sarah Hughes, Sasha Fino, Scott Ludwig, Sean Sullivan, Shaheen Lakhani, Shara Hall, Sharon Schindler, Sheila Bodine, Sheri Lynn Behr, Síle Marrinan, Simone Brogini, Stefanie Klavens, Stephen Schmidt, Steve Dunwell, Steve Genatossio, Steve Jacobson, Steve Levin, Sue Anne Hodges, Suki Hanfling, Susan Collins, Susan Lapides, Susan Lirakis, Sue Michlovitz, Susan Moffat, Susan Rosenberg Jones, Suzanne Reasenberg, Suzanne Theodora White, Suzanne Williamson, Teresa Camozzi, Teri Figliuzzi, Terri Unger, Terry Rochford, Thomas E. Janzen, Thomas McCarty, Vicky Stromee, Wenda Habenicht, William Betcher, William P Feiring, William Steinfeld, William Zinn, Yat Chun Chan (Marco Yat Chun Chan), Yorgos Efthymiadis, Zoe Perry-Wood