Past Event: In Person Artist Reception: (un)seen

Featured Artists

LYSSA PALU-AY

“Palu-ay’s work explores nature, memory, ritual, and sacred space. Whether it be in the ancient Tibetan landscape or a remote corner of Maine, Palu-ay becomes a teller of stories about a lost place and time.  Her work begins intuitively with the photograph but she also uses drawing and video to expand her dialogue with nature. Palu-ay received a BA in Political Science from Boston College with additional coursework in the Faith, Peace and Justice Program. She then earned an MFA in photography from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Palu-ay is the Dean of justice, equity and transformation (JET) at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, MA.”

STEPHEN TOURLENTES

“Stephen Tourlentes was born in Galesburg, Illinois and currently resides in Somerville, MA. He received his BFA from Knox College and an MFA  from the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, where he is currently a visiting professor of photography. His work is included in many collections including the Princeton University Art Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago and has been exhibited at the Revolution Gallery, Michigan; Cranbook Art Museum, Michigan; and S.F. Camerawork, among others.

From his project statement: We are living in the era of mass incarceration in the U.S.  I discovered this by chance when a new prison was built in the town I grew up in in Illinois.  On the outskirts of town the night sky was punctuated with a brilliant glow that changed my perception of the horizon. This transformation of the landscape revealed an unseen human cargo held in time and place.”

RASHIN FAHANDEJ

Rashin Fahandej is an Iranian-American multimedia artist and filmmaker. Her projects center on marginalized voices and the role of media, technology, and public collaboration in generating social change. A proponent of “Art as Ecosystem,” she defines her projects as “Poetic Cyber Movement for Social Justice,” where art mobilizes a plethora of voices by creating connections between public places and virtual spaces. She is the founder of “A Father’s Lullaby, “ a multi-platform, co-creative project that highlights the role of men in raising children and their absence due to racial disparities in the criminal justice system. Marginalia, a series of poetic documentaries about Baha’i immigrants of Iranian descent, narrates a historical persecution in their homeland.

KEITH MORRIS WASHINGTON

“The art of Keith Morris Washington investigates meaning and metaphor through landscape and portraiture.  These landscapes and full-body portraits explore memory, identity and social themes, that are latent and often obscured by visible features, cultural (mis)understanding and time.”