The Virtual Gallery

Over the past ten years I have been photographing the presidential candidates as they lead rallies, meet with voters and plead for their votes. I started just before the government shutdown in 2013 at a tea party rally at the U.S. Capitol. Politicians railed against the president and the Affordable Care Act — a show to get a sound bite into the next news cycle.

Since then I have followed the political spin as it tilts its way to November. Donald Trump’s entrance into the race, taking control of TV talking heads, making the media his press agent, is true Political Theater.

After a Trump rally in Lowell, Mass., a father said to his sons, “Now that was entertaining.” His sons agreed, chiming in with their favorite lines from Trump’s speech. In New Hampshire after Bernie Sanders gave a speech, he walked down the stage stairs, and when he saw photographers there he stopped and raised an arm in a power salute.

I want to pull back the curtain and show these politicians as they really are. Even though they are in plain sight, they can hide behind words and carefully arranged imagery to project their vision of America. I  am using my camera to cut through the staging of these moments and reveal the cold, naked ambition for power.

About Mark Peterson –

Mark Peterson is a photographer based in New York City. His work has been published in New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, The New Yorker, Geo Magazine and other national and international publications. In 2018 he was awarded the W. Eugene Smith grant for his work on White Nationalism. He is the author of two books Acts Of Charity published by Powerhouse in 2004 and Political Theatre which was published by Steidl in the fall of 2016.His work is collected in several museums including The National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. In 2024 Steidl will published his book The Fourth Wall. 

Mark Peterson’s monograph Political Theatre, published in 2016 by Steidl Verlag Publishing can be found on their website alongside his upcoming book The Past is Never Dead. Find him on Instagram @markpetersonpixs

Arthur Griffin: Winter in Winchester

The Griffin Virtual Gallery – November 9 – December 31, 2023

Happy winter from the Griffin! In honor of the holiday season (and our upcoming Winter Solstice exhibition), we’ve put together this online exhibition spotlighting some of our founder, Arthur Griffin’s works shot in Winchester during the wintertime. Please (virtually) put your hands together for: Winter in Winchester. 

Named after the Black Horse Tavern (that still exists today), the town we now know and love as Winchester started its humble origins as the Black Horse Village, emerging around the Converse Mill Pond. William Parsons Winchester, for whom the town was named, never actually stepped foot in his geological namesake, for he passed away before its incorporation as a town in 1850. Arthur Griffin, the namesake of our museum, on the other hand, had the pleasure of calling Winchester home from 1903 to 2001. 

Since its incorporation, Winchester has grown substantially both in population and in tradition. From the Epiphany’s annual Christmas Fair to Midnight Madness to the Winchester holiday tree lighting celebration to ice boating (depicted in Griffin’s works below), Winchester is full of winter traditions for all to enjoy. 

A winter tradition we hold dear to our hearts at the Griffin is the Winter Solstice Exhibition. This is an annual event where members can submit their own images to be displayed at the museum! (Click here for more information).

Combining some of Arthur’s works, Winter in Winchester captures the history, tradition, and charm of the town. To view more of Arthur Griffin’s works, explore his digital archive here, and in the meantime, take a scroll through past winters in Winchester as you await for this year’s to befall. 

Written and researched By: Candy Li, Fall intern 2023

“Hinushi is a series of landscape photographs from ancestral homelands woven through colonial maps of the Mississippi River, Gulf of Mexico, and Choctaw allotment land. The blue allotment maps of McCurtain County, Oklahoma (1902, courtesy of the Choctaw Cultural Center) were created after the United States Indian Removal Act (1830). Each drawn parcel indicates allotted land for individual Choctaw Tribal members and includes their name, blood quantum, and age, serving as a government document and form of assimilation into the colonial structure of land ownership, further displacing cultural values and land connectivity. After removal from their ancestral land, Choctaws suffered a long walk to “Indian Territory” or what is now called Oklahoma. Woven together are maps from Oil News (1920, from my research at the British Library, London, England) woven through Broken Bow landscapes, where our family was relocated. Choctaw basket patterns from my Grandma Chillie’s basket of sun and stars are woven through these maps, joining the land with the colonial maps as an act of reclamation. The journaling and mapping are photographs of Lewis and Clark journals taken during my archive research at the St. Louis Historical Society. The Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery Expedition (1804-1806) was funded by the United States government and initiated by Thomas Jefferson after the Louisiana Purchase (1803). These colonial forms of exploring, discovering, and mapping are constructed to manage land and people. The colonial mapping and government allotment structures represent established spaces. Weaving Chitimacha and Choctaw patterns through the maps reclaims space.

The trunks of Coastal Redwoods from California and Live Oak Trees from Avery Island, Louisiana, sit on top of the roots with maps from Lewis and Clark’s journals laid over the trunks and are woven together with a Chitimacha basket pattern. Louisiana maps merge with Oklahoma maps as the two weaving styles collide. My son, Archie, is discretely woven into some of the pieces as he stands in the Broken Bow landscape and is then woven into Tahoe, reflecting on connection after relocation. Maps and archives from the past woven into contemporary landscape photography close a gap of time. Similarly, placing a figure into a landscape can also blend time and represent Indigenous futurism by reclaiming space and re-implementing self into a land of ancestry that was otherwise taken from the ancestors. This process of weaving together past, present, and future broadens the visual experience to something that is felt and not seen, bringing spirituality into the works.” – Sarah Sense

About the Artist:

Sarah Sense (b. 1980) lives and works in California. Sense has traveled extensively through the Americas, Europe, United Kingdom and Southeast Asia. Her landscape photography is an essential part of her travel and visual art practice. Sense’s weaving practice began in New York while a master’s student at Parson New School for Design (2003-2005). While director and curator of the American Indian Community House Gallery, New York, Sense catalogued the gallery’s thirty-year history, inspiring her search for Indigenous art internationally. Her world travels were charged with archive research, photo-weaving project that expanded to community programming, international Indigenous artist interviews and the book, Weaving the Americas, A Search for Indigenous Art in the Western Hemisphere.

In Memoriam

In 2021, Toronto-based photographer Stephen L. Starkman was diagnosed with small-cell lung carcinoma. After a series of radiation and chemotherapy treatments, the artist learned the disease had spread to his brain and was incurable. During and after his treatment, Stephen documented his illness in service of his book, The Proximity of Mortality (2022). Combining landscapes, hospital scenes, and self-portraiture with poems and quotes by other cancer patients, the book offers a glimpse into both the physical and psychological ramifications of terminal illness.

The images are vast and moving. They tell a frank and beautiful story, each showing a quiet confrontation with what does -or does not- come after life’s end.

The Griffin Museum is deeply saddened by the passing of this amazing photographer and wonderful human in September of 2023. To honor his legacy and this deeply important volume, we have displayed just some of the images from the book here.

Thank you, Stephen, for all you have given to the world.

Artist Statement

“You can wait here in the sitting room, or you can sit here in the waiting room.”—Firesign Theater

Much of our lives is spent waiting.  We wait on lines to buy coffee, a ticket to a movie, to use a bathroom. We will wait in a restaurant for a table to be cleared so we can wait for our food to be served.  We sit in a waiting room to see a doctor. We wait for the school year to start and then wait for summer vacation. We wait for a friend to show up for a walking date. A return phone call. A special event.  We wait for a connection. We wait for love. 

I am always waiting for something to happen. Or waiting to piece together what just happened. Even waiting to figure out what could have happened. And as I wait, I photograph places that reveal nothing clearly, or something just out of reach. I search for moments that evoke the feelings inherent in the discomfort of waiting. My intention is to capture the ironic, amusing, and suspenseful. I hope to capture a sense of curiosity about what could be or could have been.

I wait.  And in that waiting, I act.

About

Joy Bush is a photographer based in Connecticut.  She grew up near New York City and as a child she loved family excursions to NYC museums and theater productions.  After graduating from college she discovered the magic of photography, and bought herself a Pentax Spotmatic.  Eventually employed as a university photographer, she documented life on college campuses while developing personal bodies of work.

Joy’s fine art photographs grow out of her interest in social landscapes. In her images there is an echo of human presence: a sense that people have recently left with no certainty of when, or if, they will return.  

Bush’s work was recently featured in UNBEATABLE WOMEN at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum, CT (2022) and HOME VIEWS at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Massachusetts. (2021). Her photographs have appeared in Fraction Magazine, The Village Voice, The New York Times, Connecticut Review, and many other publications. She has exhibited in solo and group exhibits nationally and internationally including the International Center for Photography (NYC), Mattatuck Museum, (CT), Lyman Allyn Art Museum, Copley Society (Boston, MA), Garrison Art Center (NY), and  Umbrella Arts (NYC). Bush is represented in the permanent collections of the Cincinnati Art Museum, Mattatuck Museum,  Montefiore Hospital (Bronx, NY), the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Yale Medical Group Art Place, and private collections.

JoyBushPhotography.com

@joybushphotography

Reflecting on the Griffin Museum of Photography’s archive of Arthur Griffin’s work, this exhibition highlights the work of the museum’s founder and the beautiful New England scenery with which he was so enamored. The clear skies, ocean views, and portraits of local families show a clear lifetime commitment to photographing and documenting the joy of New England summers in this online exhibition, A Summer with Arthur Griffin.  

Life Magazine names Arthur Griffin as one of New England’s earliest photojournalists “known for his landscape photography of the region.” Originally trained to be an illustrator, Arthur Griffin became a photographer after picking up a second hand folding Brownie, launching a lifelong passion and career in photography. He became the exclusive photographer for the Boston Globe Rotogravure Magazine and a photojournalist for Life and Time Magazines. 

Arthur’s legacy lives on at the Griffin Museum of Photography, founded in 1992 to promote an appreciation of photographic art and foster a broader understanding of its visual, emotional, and social impact. The museum honors Arthur Griffin as its founder by maintaining his legacy through the visual archive. Here are just a few examples from the archive, highlighting his work and celebrating the spirit of summer.  

Written By: Maeve Kydd, Curatorial summer intern, 2023

Research By: Kaitlyn Hughes, Archive summer intern 2023

My father used a sextant for celestial navigation on aircraft carriers in the Navy and on family sailing trips.  He taught me to see the constellation pictures, stellar landmarks, and stories in the stars.  I’ve loved looking at the night sky all my life.  As a child I would lie on the grass, or on a snowbank, and look up into the darkness and wonder what was out there; willing myself with all my might to visit the cosmos – hearing the siren song that has called humanity to look to the heavens since the dawn of time.

World issues, politics, relationships, and even my daily routine, fall into perspective against the awesome spectacles in our own galaxy and the universe beyond.  I am small and insignificant yet privileged to see and share these wonders.

Using my telescope as a lens, I capture the ancient light of things that are unimaginably old, unfathomably distant, and incomprehensibly vast. They are at the same time delicate and extremely violent; still, and yet constantly changing.  Being born, living, and dying at a cadence as slow as they are vast, stars, nebulae, and galaxies echo the terrestrial creation we see around us. 

Long exposure photography is the only way we can experience these awe-inspiring celestial scenes.  Each final photograph is constructed from individual images captured over many tens of hours.  It’s not unusual for the final photograph to contain 100 or more frames.  In these images, there is art in the science, and science in the art.

About Marsha Wilcox

The intricate beauty in the universe around us, from a droplet on an autumnal branch to the awe-inspiring patterns and colors in nebulae and galaxies fascinate me.

A course in Night Photography introduced me to the nuances of light and color after the sun sets.  In addition to urban landscapes, we photographed the grand Milky Way.  The allure of looking deeper into the night sky called me.  Using telescopes, dedicated astronomy cameras, and specialized filters, I am able to image ancient light, things unseen with the naked eye.

On clear, calm, nights when the moon is dim, I wheel my telescope out to image the universe.  It’s not unusual for neighbors to stop by; it is a privilege to share the night sky with them. 

A retired epidemiologist, I also hold an MPS in Digital Photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York.  I usually image the night sky outside of Boston in the company of three wonderful Golden Retrievers.

To see more of Marsha Wilcox‘s work, see her website.

Boston’s colonial leaders once called Downtown Boston home, and the district’s residents traded on the wharves and in shops leading from the waterfront.  The seat of government was the Old State House at the head of State Street.  The main freshwater source for the area gave Spring Lane its name.
Although you wouldn’t know it today, as recently as 20 years ago, Downtown Crossing was hardly an attraction at all. It was a place occupied almost entirely by shoppers and office workers. The neighborhood was busy during the day, but went silent at night. Now, emerging retail giants, new restaurants and revived forms of entertainment keep visitors busy deep into the night. 

Neighborhoods throughout Boston all have their own distinct demographics. But Downtown Crossing prides itself on being a place that has a little bit of everything for everyone. “When you’re taking Washington Street and you go all the way down into different neighborhoods, there are different demographics. But, specifically talking about Downtown Crossing, it really is a crossing of lots of cultures. Just a few blocks away along Washington Street, Chinatown is experiencing similar changes to Downtown Crossing. 

In Early 1982 , I moved to Boston from Manhattan, NYC to attend college. Back then, the city was mostly diverse during the semester calendar of the year when students like me (called back then foreign students) would be there during the college semesters and when college was over most would leave town for job opportunities elsewhere. The city was mostly known for its lack of diversity, lack of inclusiveness and racial tensions. 
I worked there briefly after college and then like most relocated back to NYC where 31 years later still reside. 
Recently I was invited by Crista Dix, Executive Director of the Griffin Museum to show my photographic series Expanding The Pantheon : Women R Beautiful at The Griffin @ Lafayette City Center Gallery in Downtown Crossing Boston. 
I was also asked if could do what I call and had done in several other museums a ” Wall Portrait Session ” on which will asked passersby subjects to have their portrait taken and document the current demographics of the area. 
This happened Saturday May 13, 2023 from 2-4 PM right in front of Macy’s (which in the past was formerly Jordan Marsh). 
I was so pleasantly surprised by how diverse and inclusive the city has become. Everywhere I went around the city, from my Uber driver, to delivery, to retail employers, hotel managers etc, etc, minorities and members of the LBGTQ+ community were present, confident and more than anything being seen!
I was so thrilled to document such a strong shift in demographics so evident and present and how everyone interacted so well with each other. I witnessed and documented a newer, inclusive and diverse city. 
The wall selected for the portrait session was this wonderful wallpaper simulating stage drapery. It was tiny but just perfect ! The final effect to me seemed like a vintage photo booth, where people go in to have that perfect moment of togetherness 

This whole digital archive was donated by me to The Griffin Museum. My way to give back to the city who formed me as the professional, individual and human that I am today.

RUBEN NATAL-SAN MIGUEL is an architect, fine art photographer, curator, creative director and critic. His stature in the photo world has earned him awards, features in major media, countless exhibitions and collaborations with photo icons such as Magnum Photographer Susan Meiselas. Gallery shows include: Asya Geisberg, SoHo Photo, Rush Arts, Finch & Ada, Kris Graves Projects, Fuchs Projects, WhiteBox Gallery, Station Independent Projects Gallery, LMAK Gallery,  Postmasters Gallery  Rome  & NYC  and others. His work has been featured in numerous institutions: The New York Public Library, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Griffin Museum of Photography, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, African American Museum of Philadelphia, The Makeshift Museum in Los Angeles, University of Washington, El Museo del Barrio and Phillips Auction House and Aperture Foundation.