In Here + Now, the 21 featured artists utilize methods of documentation and performance to communicate the conditions and stories of their time through the lens of self-portraiture. Here + Now, a national exhibition, is juried by Francine Weiss, the senior curator at the Newport Art Museum.

In Logs, Ethan Lassey depicts a person who anticipates a catastrophe, but, despite this knowledge, the person continues to plan for a future that might not exist. Cathy Durso’s ongoing body of work, a series of self-point-of-view drawings with collaged elements, reflects her experience of becoming a mother at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Taking care of a baby-turned-toddler while remaining isolated forced the artist to look down at the ground below rather than out into the world beyond. While visiting her grandmother’s home in Mexico for the first time in 14 years, Gabi Magaly documented her time with her grandmother by photographing intimate moments between them and taking self-portraits.

Utilizing photography, painting, drawing, mixed media, collage, embroidery, textiles, sculpture, and video, these selected artists present a contemporary understanding of themselves and the world they inhabit. Themes of the COVID-19 pandemic, familial relationships, pregnancy, body image, identity, trauma, immigration, memory, and more are all on view in this exhibition that portrays individual, yet collective, notions of self.

Featured Artists

Hannah Altman, Katie Blundell, Megan Chiango, Glenn Davis, Alice Dillon, Erin Dimson-Doyle, Cathy Durso, Ivana George, Martha Heller, Ethan Lassey, Eva Lewis, Gabi Magaly, Kally Malcom, Kathleen McLoughlin, Elizabeth Menges, Evan Morse, Zoe Schein, Mami Takahashi, Matthew Troyer, Delanie Wise, Maria Zhalnina

About the Juror

Francine Weiss is the Senior Curator at the Newport Art Museum in RI where she curates exhibitions of contemporary art, photography, and American art. Her recent exhibitions include “Hair Stories”, “Andy Warhol: Big Shot”, and “The Shapes of Birds: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa” among others. Her past positions include Curator at the Photographic Resource Center (Boston, MA), Acting Assistant Curator in the Department of Photographs at the National Gallery of Art (Washington DC), Collections Manager at Fitchburg Art Museum, Curatorial Fellow at the deCordova Sculpture Park Museum, and Curatorial Fellow of American art at Harvard University Art Museums among others. She has taught art history at Wellesley College, Simmons College, and Boston University and has taught and advised students in the MFA program at the Institute of Art and Design at New England College. Dr. Weiss has a Ph.D. in American studies, specializing in art and photography, from Boston University and a B.A. from Wellesley College in English. She has received fellowships from the Smithsonian Institution (Washington DC), Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and Research Center (NM), Center for Creative Photography (AZ), The Huntington (CA), and Harry Ransom Center (TX). She has published widely on photography and American art.