past exhibition
Seeing is Not Believing: Ambiguity in Photography
On view through Sunday, June 25
Many photographers play with ambiguities – creating images which question what is real. Perspective, lighting, and close-up details can radically distort the look of objects. These distortions can be both bewildering and delightful.
From the invention of photography in the 1830s, the camera has captured unexpected effects. Some photographers manipulated their images by using multiple negatives and special darkroom effects. Digital images are only the latest step in a long tradition of deception.
This exhibition explores photographs that make us question what we are looking at. Still lifes, abstract images, and manipulated photographs heighten our sense of wonder. Can we ever trust what we see in a photograph?
This exhibition will be on view through Sunday, June 25.
Please join us for a special ARTalk on that date at 2 pm with fine art photographer, Gary Samson, who is featured in the exhibition. Advanced registration required below.
Support from Jay Surdukowski
Marjorie Content
American, 1895–1984
Church Ruins, 1932–34
gelatin silver print
The Vallarino Photography Collection and Purchase Fund, 1984.86
James Van Der Zee
American, 1886–1983
Daddy Grace and Children, 1938
gelatin silver print
Henry Melville Fuller Fund, 2017.26
Man Ray
American, 1890–1976
Rayograph: Bird in Hand, circa 1930
gelatin silver print
Gift of Edith Vallarino and Vincent Vallarino, 1991.7.1
Eleanor Briggs
American, b. 1939
Swimmer, 1983
gelatin silver print
Gift of Elenore Freedman, 1991.37
upcoming exhibitions
past exhibitions
Archived material on past exhibitions can be explored further here, and recent past exhibition catalogues are available through the museum shop.
artist in residence
Our Artist-in-Residence (AIR) program invites artists to live and work at the museum. While in residence, artists consider the collection and community, and refresh our perspectives on the role of the museum. The program is central to the Currier Museum’s mission of connecting our audiences with art and creative thinking, whether of the past or the future. We hope to learn from our visiting artists – and be surprised by their perspectives.
Artists working in all media participate in the AIR program, which has three main components: 1) an open call to support emerging artists making socially engaged art; 2) an invitational through which artists are selected to develop special projects, commissions, or exhibitions; and 3) artist-led, community-centered public art projects in the city of Nashua, NH.
Open Call for Artist in Residence Applications
Our annual open call is currently live from October 1 – December 1, 2022. Artists who share the museum’s goal of positively impacting communities through the transformative power of art are encouraged to apply to this residency.