Portraiture has been a popular genre of photography since the earliest days of the medium. We continue to be compelled by the photographic character studies of Nadar and Julia Margaret Cameron, the social portraits of Dorothea Lange and August Sander, and the conceptual self-portraits of Cindy Sherman. There are billions of unique people to photograph and an infinite number of ways in which to do so.

A photographic portrait can be more than just the delineated likeness of a person inscribed onto a light-sensitive medium. A well-made portrait presents the viewer with an invitation to study the psyche of an individual. We can understand many things about a person based on the facial expression, posture, gesture, wardrobe, and environment captured in a photograph. We are given an insight into the subject’s traits, personality, and character, and the opportunity to comprehend the truth of someone beyond everyday outward appearances.

This isn’t to say that a portrait must absolutely represent the sitter. By deliberate misrepresentation, the portrait can now portray something other than the person modeling. It can be a portrayal of something else—another person, as an actor portrays a character; a statement on the human condition; or a metaphor for something else entirely.

Exhibiting Artists:

Tslil Agmon (Machane Yehudit, Israel)
David Aimone (Saratoga Springs, NY)
Cassidy Brauner (Plain City, OH)
Jim Bremer (East Longmeadow, MA)
Aaron Burleson (Glastonbury, CT)
Evelyn Burton (Harrisburg, PA)
Terri Cappucci (Turners Falls, MA)
Zack Carroll (Manchester, CT)
Nicole Cudzilo (Bethel, CT)
Kristofor Dahl (Irvine, CA)
Autumn Dowdy (Porter, TX)
Anastasia Fasnakis (Stratford, CT)
Diane Fenster (Pacifica, CA)
Florin Firimita (Winchester, CT)
Morgan Ford Willingham (Vincennes, IN)
Kathryn Frederick (Killingworth, CT)
Robert Goss-Kennedy (Salem, MA)
Sandy Hale (Windham, CT)
Julie Hamel (Loudon, NH)
Charlene Hardy (Kennewick, WA)
Daniel Herzog (Manchester, CT)
Martin Holmes (Katy, TX)
Sergei K (Lansing, MI)
Linda Kessler (Brooklyn, NY)
Susan Kosek (Fort Myers, FL)
Traci Marie Lee (Providence, RI)
Ty Morin (Burlington, CT)
Andrew Musil (Athens, OH)
Luke O’Connor (Avon, CT)
Amy Rockett-Todd (Tulsa, OK)
Joshua Sariñana (Cambridge, MA)
Britney Segermeister (Washington DC)
Sara Silks (Overland Park, KS)
Sterne Slaven (Demarest, NJ)
JP Terlizzi (New York, NY)
Bruce Van Valen (Torrington, CT)
Michael Weitzman (Mission Viejo, CA)
Holly Worthington (Natick, MA)

This juried exhibition of Portraits and Portrayals can be viewed April 15–May 14, 2016.