Photographer Beatrix Reinhardt is intrigued by the concept of membership clubs – how they include and exclude – and how that is visually defined in their interior spaces.

A series of her photographs, Members Only, is featured in the Atelier Gallery at the Stoneham Theatre in Stoneham, MA, September 9 through November 7. The opening reception is September 9, 6-7:30 p.m. The exhibit runs parallel to the theater’s production “Perfect Harmony.”

“To me, clubs are the nexus of homogeny and heterogeny. It is that space where `like’ comes together and `unlike’ stays apart,” Reinhardt says. “It is not only due to the nature of union that the club is defined and takes on a meaning, but also due to the nature of exclusion. All these notions have visual manifestations, which became the focus of this body of work.”

Reinhardt explains that her photographs “are un-peopled but replete with human presence, visible in form of the social relations conveyed by the organization of space.” She began the club series in 2003 in Australia, where she found clubs to be “institutions of great significance in the social landscape.” She has since photographed clubs in China, the United States, Spain, the Ukraine, and England.

Reinhardt grew up in the former East Germany. After completing undergraduate studies in New German Literature in Berlin, she studied at the New School for Social Research in New York, graduating with a master’s degree in media studies. She started studying photography at the New School and continued at Illinois State University. Since completing a master of fine arts degree, Reinhardt has been living and working in different parts of the world. Her work has been exhibited internationally. Since 2006, she has been program coordinator of photography at the College of Staten Island/CUNY in New York.