Photographer Jim Vecchi says his work is “a reflection of my ongoing search for meaning. I rely on beauty and the act of seeing to explore, question, and reinterpret the way that we perceive the world.” A series of his photographs, So Much Depends, is featured in the Griffin Gallery of the Griffin Museum June 7 through July 8.

“These photographs are in honor of the American poet William Carlos Williams,” Vecchi says. “I was particularly influenced by The Red Wheelbarrow. From this poem I learned much about the truth of seeing.” The title of the series comes from the poem, which in its entirety reads: so much depends upon / a red wheel barrow / glazed with rain water / beside the white chickens. The photographs are round images, each 4-inches in diameter. Vecchi’s inspiration came from a quote about the poem written by Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren in Understanding Poetry. “Reading this poem is like peering at an ordinary object through a pin prick in piece of cardboard. The fact that the tiny hole arbitrarily frames the object endows it with an exciting freshness that seems to hover on the verge of revelation.” The photographs in So Much Depends were taken during Vecchi’s 2009 artist residency with the Long Beach Island Foundation in New Jersey. Vecchi was raised in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and followed his two older brothers to Carnegie Mellon University, where earned a degree in business administration in 1978. He continued to pursue a doctorate in the subject at Stanford University, but decided it was not for him. He took a part-time job so he could explore other aspects of life. In 1981, when he was 25, he took a motorcycle trip cross-country and brought along an Instamatic camera. He found that taking pictures changed the way he saw the world. He also started a meditation practice. “The two felt interconnected to me,” says Vecchi. “With a camera, I saw the world in a fresh way, and with meditation, I looked deeply at myself. Everything was opening up.” Vecchi has exhibited widely and his work can be found in many collections and publications. Prior to the public reception, Christopher Chadbourne gives a gallery talk for museum members at 6:15 p.m. about his exhibit, State Fair, which is featured in the Atelier Gallery.