In an exhibition loosely based on the theme of the superhero, nine invited photographers unveil their unique super powers through their photographs.

Superheroes, is featured in The Atelier Gallery at the Stoneham Theatre in Stoneham, MA, October 21 through November 22nd. An opening reception is October 22, 6-7:30 p.m. The exhibit runs parallel to the theater’s production of The Sparrow.

Participating photographers are Russ Ford and Reyn Soffe, Heather McDonough, Reiner Riedler, Danielle Picard-Sheehan, Tanit Sakakini, Betsy Schneider, Harvey Stein, and Gregg Segal

Russ Ford and Reyn Soffe are a photography team based in New York City. They say of their work that they “express a false super natural strength by pausing motion through a lens. Is this a Super Power? Not even. Are we Invisible? Not at all. How about Bionic? You laugh. Are we Clever? We don’t know. But we will take what little super power we possess and talk to it, love it and give it a cape because one day it will fly. Go humans go.” Four of their collaborative photographs appear in the exhibition.

London-based photographer Heather McDonough was asked to submit several images of superhero graffiti she found in the urban landscape of France on a trip in 2007. Her work is often about memory and location, obsession and curiosity, and fuelled by the need to keep and collect. The objects of her photographs surround our everyday lives. McDonough is currently a visiting photography lecturer at London Metropolitan University.

Reiner Riedler of Vienna, Austria, is a documentary photographer who deals with present day topics that center on people and their surroundings. Riedler’s work has been exhibited worldwide. His most recent photography project and soon-to-be-released book, Fake Holidays, is dedicated to the topic of simulation. His image, Superman over Red Square, Turkey 2006, depicts what happens when wishes are out of reach and simulation takes over our leisure time and holidays.

For Danielle Picard-Sheehan of Newtown, PA, family has always been at the center of her photography. Dreaming 2008 is a photograph of the artist’s sleeping son dreaming of superheroes. Picard-Sheehan says her images of family “contain narratives, which weave fantasy and imagination with current issues that impact our society.” She uses the Ambrotype (an antique wet-plate colloidon process) coupled with digital imaging to produce a wistful and thoughtful effect in her photographs.

Tanit Sakakini’s superheroes are not from Gotham City but are all from Boston. The photograph on exhibit was created on August 11, 2007, when a group of artists gathered at the Design Center in Boston for a photo shoot. The Superheroes Project, created by Brian Burkhardt and Tanit Sakakini, consisted of 18 artists dressed as superheroes to be used in an ad campaign that celebrates the arts in New England.

Betsy Schneider is a photo-based artist and educator. Her image in Superheroes is from her body of work called Scenes. With her photograph, Baracuda, Schneider says her “artistic concerns range from trying to understand time, decay, and the body to exploring childhood, culture, and relationships and looking very closely at strange visceral things such as candy, placentas, and the mouth.” Schneider was an assistant to Sally Mann and studied with Catherine Wagner and Larry Sultan. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Society for Photographic Education in the US and is an associate professor of art at Arizona State University in Tempe.

Harvey Stein is a professional photographer, teacher, lecturer, and author based in New York City. He currently teaches at the International Center of Photography and in the Master of Professional Studies Program in Digital Photography at the School of Visual Arts. His image in Superheroes was photographed in the 1980s and is shown courtesy of the Bruce Silverstein Gallery, NY.

Los Angeles-based photographer Gregg Segal followed home costumed entertainers dressed as superheroes to highlight the contrast of the fantastic and mundane. Though in costume, the superheroes from his Ordinary Heroes series are unmasked by the ordinariness of their apartments and routine chores.