Exhibition Celebrates Photographer Mary Beth Meehan at WaterFire - Inside Art with Michael Rose
Wednesday, July 14, 2021
Over the last year, the WaterFire Arts Center has become a premier setting for stunning exhibitions. The venue’s latest show celebrates the remarkable capacity of photography to celebrate everyday people and build community. On view through August 22, WaterFire is mounting an excellent survey of large-scale photographs by Providence artist Mary Beth Meehan. The exhibition, appropriately titled Eye to Eye, consists of sensitive and beautiful portraits capturing sitters drawn from regions throughout the United States. Although technology has rendered the world image-sodden, Meehan’s portraits are an antidote to the alienation common in today’s culture.
The famed French street photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson spoke of the importance of “the decisive moment” in making images. For Meehan, great photography can more readily be equated with the decisive individual. Regular people who will not find themselves on magazine covers or as models in advertising campaigns are Meehan’s subjects of choice. She elevates her sitters to the status of popular icons in form and treatment, signifying her care and respect for their diverse and unique experiences.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTOne method Meehan employs to highlight her models is the sheer size of her photographs, which are often printed as industrial banners and then adhered to buildings, pushing viewers to reassess their own connectedness. This hierarchy of scale accords the same level of importance to the individuals being photographed as to a billboard in Times Square.
Two such photographic banners hung back-to-back from the rafters of the exhibition space nearly touch the floor which is about three stories below. Another pair of huge photographs, installed in front of windows in the space, are backlit by natural light and take on a movie screen aspect. The effect is scintillating.
Primarily shot head-on, Meehan’s portraits make it possible to connect directly with people representing a variety of communities spread from Providence and Brockton to Georgia and Silicon Valley. These are some of the places where Meehan has embedded herself, absorbing the stories of residents like a sponge and creating probing photographs to accompany written narratives that live on her Re:Seeing blog.
In the show at the WaterFire Arts Center, it is difficult to pick favorites. Meehan presents each character as a consequential protagonist, from a breastfeeding mother gently cradling her child to a young boxer whose hands are weighed down by gloves.
In C.B., a portrait dating to 2011, a man is pictured poking his head up from under a blanket. He is cloaked in the red white and blue fleece of a faux American flag. Tucked in cozily, he stares out and engages one-on-one with the viewer.
In another photograph, Fourth of July, a lone figure is separated from a group at a backyard barbecue - exemplifying the dislocation felt by many not only over the last year, but also more generally. One of the through lines in Meehan’s work is an exploration of the contemporary American experience. Her images are both documentary and deeply poignant.
In the intimate gallery adjacent to the main hall, a collaboration between Meehan and Jonathan Pitts-Wiley is on view, featuring photographs and archival items that tell the story of Pitts-Wiley’s grandmother Annye Raye Pitts who passed away in 2018 at age 85. This project, titled Annye Raye Pitts: Witness, is a testament to the complexity and depth that lie in the personal stories behind Meehan’s sitters.
This gallery opens with a collection of Ms. Pitts’ exuberant hats installed next to Meehan’s banner photograph of her, which is so large it drapes down into a roll on the floor. Within, viewers will find material that, in the words of WaterFire’s exhibition description, capture a “captivating swath of American history through the eyes, words, and personal effects of a daughter of the Great Migration.” One of the most touching elements is an assemblage of family photographs from Ms. Pitts’ archive. It illustrates the qualities of vernacular photography and the significant role the medium now plays in recording family history. All of these small photographs are portraits, telling the story of a family over generations.
Ms. Pitts’ fluid cursive handwriting is also displayed, keeping track of episodes ranging from major historical moments covered in newspaper clippings she collected, to family bills and personal prayer intentions. A video in the space gives visitors a chance to actually hear Ms. Pitts’ voice. This stunning collaboration is a fitting conclusion to the show, which celebrates the power of photography in the hands of an expert artist, connector, and storyteller like Mary Beth Meehan.
Eye to Eye: Photographs and Projects by Mary Beth Meehan will run June 30 – August 22, 2021 The exhibit is free for all, donations encouraged. The WaterFire Arts Center hours are: Wednesday – Sunday, 10:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m, Thursday 10:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.
