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Posted on September 26, 2014

Sisters of the Commonwealth
Meg Birnbaum
– December 4, 2014

Opening reception October 18, 2014 7 – 8:30 PM
Members talk 6:15 Meg Birnbaum

A Sister of Perpetual Indulgence bending down in a red dress..
Meg Birnbaum
A Sister of Perpetual Indulgence standing on a city roof top.
Meg Birnbaum

Meg Birnbaum is a fine art photographer who over the course of three years has followed and photographed the Boston Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. There are 3000 plus Sisters worldwide with eighteen Sisters, Novices, Postulants and Aspirants in the Boston house on Commonwealth Avenue.

Birnbaum’s series, Sisters of the Commonwealth, is featured in the Griffin Gallery at the Griffin Museum October 14 through December 4, 2014. An opening reception with the artist is October 18, 7-8:30 p.m. Birnbaum will do a gallery talk prior to the opening on October 18th at 6:15 PM

“The Sisters immediately welcomed me and appointed me their photo historian,” says Meg Birnbaum. “I watch as they artfully manifest into “avatars” of social activism with the seemingly simple goal of inspiring acceptance, compassion and the desire to shift intolerant perspectives while raising money, predominately for causes within the LGBT community,” Birnbaum says. “Photographs, and the human stories behind them can be tools for supporting social change. I hope that by sharing my photographs of the Sisters with the public, that I am contributing to and echoing their desire to build a better world.”

“The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were formed in San Francisco in 1979 as street theatre in a backlash to bigotry and eventually the Sisters became a support system for the AID’s crisis,” says Paula Tognarelli, executive director of the Griffin Museum of Photography. “Birnbaum’s intimate portraits of the Boston Sisters reveal the giving spirit of the order. They also give voice to their mission that is We love you. We adore you. We respect you. We protect you. We serve you. We are your sisters.”

Meg Birnbaum has had numerous solo exhibitions internationally and her work is held in major museum collections. She teaches in the Photography Atelier at the Griffin Museum and resides in Somerville, Massachusetts. She has recently been “sainted” by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and is called Saint Meg-A-Pixel.

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Floor Plan

Amy Rindskopf's Terra Novus

At the market, I pick each one up, pulled in by the shapes as they sit together, waiting. I feel its heft in my hand, enjoy the textures of the skin or peel, and begin to look closer and closer. The patterns on each individual surface marks them as distinct. I push further still, discovering territory unseen by the casual observer, a new land. I am like a satellite orbiting a distant planet, taking the first-ever images of this newly envisioned place.

This project started as an homage to Edward Weston’s Pepper No. 30 (I am, ironically, allergic to peppers). As I looked for my subject matter at the market, I found that I wasn’t drawn to just one single fruit or vegetable. There were so many choices, appealing to both hand and eye. I decided to print in black and white to help make the images visually more about the shapes, and not about guessing which fruit is smoothest, which vegetable is greenest.

Artistic Purpose/Intent

Artistic Purpose/Intent

Tricia Gahagan

 

Photography has been paramount in my personal path of healing from disease and

connecting with consciousness. The intention of my work is to overcome the limits of the

mind and engage the spirit. Like a Zen koan, my images are paradoxes hidden in plain

sight. They are intended to be sat with meditatively, eventually revealing greater truths

about the world and about one’s self.

 

John Chervinsky’s photography is a testament to pensive work without simple answers;

it connects by encouraging discovery and altering perspectives. I see this scholarship

as a potential to continue his legacy and evolve the boundaries of how photography can

explore the human condition.

 

Growing my artistic skill and voice as an emerging photographer is critical, I see this as

a rare opportunity to strengthen my foundation and transition towards an established

and influential future. I am thirsty to engage viewers and provide a transformative

experience through my work. I have been honing my current project and building a plan

for its complete execution. The incredible Griffin community of mentors and the

generous funds would be instrumental for its development. I deeply recognize the

hallmark moment this could be for the introduction of the work. Thank you for providing

this incredible opportunity for budding visions and artists that know they have something

greater to share with the world.

Fran Forman RSVP