How do we ponder and define community and place? These five photographs were produced for and exhibited in the 2019 exhibition Mission Hill: Presence, Absence and Transformation. The images were also included in the limited-edition exhibition catalog accompanying the show. The project was led by Dragan Grujic, founder of the Boston-based INFocus Camera Club. The exhibition opened in June 2019 and was presented in two galleries in Boston’s Brigham Circle district.

For over twenty years, I resided and maintained my design studio in Boston’s urban neighborhood of Mission Hill. Often, as I walked my street, I reflected upon my time as a child and the connections I developed in my hometown, most notably on the street where I grew up. While I secured many meaningful friendships and connections on Mission Hill, most of the residents remained largely anonymous and transient.

From 2018–2019 I committed to exploring my street through photography—seeking the connections between and reflecting upon notions of neighborhoods and communities. Over time my photographic focus became the dehumanized yet richly textured numbers and ephemera on the front of each house.

Shortly after the exhibition opened, I received two emails from two separate people who were each seeking to purchase the same print of a front door on Mission Hill. Each email separately shared that both said the reason for wanting the print was because it was the house where they had each met their spouse. Lo and behold, the couple had reached out simultaneously without even knowing it.

Credits—

Camera: Nikon D5300
Curator: Dragan Grujic
Sponsor: INFocus Camera Club, Boston

FILED IN: Art