The “portraits” exhibition, juried by Donna Garcia, was in the online gallery from August 16 to September 26, 2024.  Donna selected forty seven images from forty artist for the exhibition. Linda Plaisted’s image “Rose Red” received the Juror’s Award. Seveta Butko’s image “Alona” received the Director’s Award.

Juror’s Statement

There аre many different types of portraits: studio portraits, environmental portraits, conceptual portraits, self-portraits, personless portraits, and more.  The one commonality they share is that they should say something about the person being photographed, or the persona that you are creating/reflecting via the camera – the images in this exhibition truly reveal that deep and diverse richness of narrative that has the ability to connect with the viewer, in a way that can help them to know something that they didn’t know before.

Being a juror for this call for portraits allowed me to gauge the temperature of the “field” and witness thematic and formal trends that emerged across these submissions, which was incredibly insightful. Without a doubt, the conceptual threads always surprise me. Perusing hundreds of pictures in a concentrated period of time gives me a glimpse into the questions artists are posing to address and what is relevant for them right now.

I believe that the work here allows us to see how portraiture artists (traditional and non-traditional) see the world through the lens of human representation, whether it is the face of a joyful father, or the complicated relationship of two grandparents whose generational trauma still lingers. It also shows us how we, as artists, can push the boundaries of the definition of portraiture.  Can we utilize portraiture to connect with residual memory through a shadowy space once occupied by a loved on? Can we deconstruct then reconstruct the past through photographic portraiture archives to expose new truths? Can we find joy and common purpose in the faces of those around us? Can we understand the connection between us, as humans, and all living things through expressions of empathy?  These artists have shown us that the answer to these questions is “YES”!

Photography’s relationship with time and memory, grief, family, identity, compassion and community are among the various themes that flow through these tremendous submissions for portraiture. Some artists represent these ideas conspicuously while others touch on a number of them indirectly. Most importantly with each submission, what is invariably palpable is a genuine love of exploration through the medium of photography– its endless possibilities and rich potential to inspire and shape new perspectives of the world.

Donna Garcia
Director of Education and Programs – Griffin Museum
August, 2024

Directors’ Statement

The emotive, symbolic, or revealing aspect of portraits can run in opposite directions, from both the subject of the portrait and the photographer. We, the viewer, can see, simultaneously, something phycological and or philosophical of the subject and the photographer. This can all be done with a look, a color, and or the position of the subject. Sometimes a smile removes all questions.

In Robin Reich’s image, Olive and a Presence of Departed Acts, we see a woman apparently in a wheelchair, possibly a relative, showing us an image of herself when she was a child. There is a somewhat blank expression on her face. We aren’t sure if she is sad or happy or without emotion in the moment. And we wonder, is the woman a relative of the photographer, does the photographer have an emotional connection to the subject? What is the photographer trying to show us?

Peggy Reynolds’ image, Under the Influence, causes us to question – whose sense of humor is on display here, the subjects or the photographers?

Jill Finney’s image, Ricky, shows us an animal in a cage. We can’t tell if the animal is resting, or sad. The attitude of its body suggests sadness. What is the photographer trying to show us? Is she also showing us something about herself, her feelings about the moment?

In Linda Plaisted’s image, Rose Red, which received the Juror’s Award, we are confronted with the color red. It goes from a scarlet red to blood red rimmed with black around the head of the subject. There is no apparent menace. The subject is looking down as if calmly posing. Yet, what does the red say about the subject. What emotions are we to take away from the image? What is the photographer telling us? What is the emotional state of the photographer? Why red?

This is what makes for compelling imagery.

We want to thank Donna and all who entered.

Amanda Smith and Kevin Tully

link to online exhibition