July 1 – September 14, 2025
About the People of Chelsea project –
The People of Chelsea Project was born from a deep love of the city of Chelsea, for its rich culture, vibrant beauty, and resilient community. Just across the harbor and only a bridge away from Boston, yet culturally distinct from its larger metropolitan neighbor, Chelsea is too often overlooked.
This project features and celebrates its residents, businesses, and institutions – from activists to entrepreneurs, from city officials to students, from old timers to newcomers. The People of Chelsea project is a positive mirror to the community and an homage to those who make the city work every day, across ages, experiences, and languages. Particularly during the mire of COVID-19, the project was a meaningful departure from the disaster-oriented media narratives about Chelsea, and each showing of this work became a source of civic pride. Through strong local collaborations, we have highlighted a community that is so much more than its pandemic losses: a Chelsea that is resilient, creative, courageous and just.
As the project has reached new audiences in and beyond Chelsea, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. People have been delighted to see their own images and stories as well as those of their friends, family, and neighbors. That momentum continues to grow as the project evolves. There are many more stories to be shared and people to be made visible.
About Darlene DeVita and Sarah Putnam –
Darlene DeVita has been a professional photographer for 30 years, and a resident of Chelsea, MA for two decades. She began the People of Chelsea Project in 2016. Her early career as one of the pre-eminent wedding photographers in the Boston area fine-tuned her skills photographing people, and this, combined with her innate love of community, is evident in the passion she brings to the People of Chelsea Project. More recently, Dar’s professional photography illuminates the work of local non-profits, schools, and corporations. Her clients have included The Boston Foundation, Athenahealth, La Colaborativa, Vinfen, MAB Community Services, Wentworth Institute of Technology, among others.
Sarah Putnam joined Darlene DeVita on the People of Chelsea Project in 2018, primarily to help in Spanish-speaking situations, conducting and editing interviews, and collaborating on the photographs by providing another set of eyes. Sarah has been in her own right a writer and freelance photographer for national publications and organizations for decades. Her writing has ranged from feature stories to interviews to reviews, her photographs have appeared in magazines and books, been included in both group and solo exhibitions, and she has produced multimedia pieces for the web. She was a Bunting Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute.
The Griffin @ Lafayette City Center Passageway is located at 2 Ave de Lafayette in Downtown Crossing, Boston. The passageway connects Macy’s, the Lafayette Tower offices and the Hyatt Regency, Boston. For more information please contact the museum at 781.729.1158
