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SHOWS | EXHIBITS | PRESS

SEPTEMBER 2021

Images from my series Can’t You Hear Me will be on exhibit at the Lafayette City Center Gallery in Boston as part of the Griffin Museum’s Atelier 34.

“Can’t You Hear Me”

Nestled in a shoebox, undisturbed, the fading indicia on the envelopes reads 1983. Safeguarded against the passage of time, they whisper “forget me not”. The handwriting, rhythmically repeated from sender to receiver, is unmistakably consistent, even persistent. A young man’s words, familiar but distant, ache to be remembered.

A buried voice comes alive in the making of these images, piecing together subconscious rumblings. Like a dream, the succession of images attempts to reconstruct the ideas, emotions, and sensations of a seventeen-year-old’s chaos. The silent danger of abandoned spaces provides the perfect backdrop for memories to resurface. Threads of reality and color combine with a reinterpretation of the past to honor a life lost.

This series is a visual exploration of how the passing of time helps to heal intangible elements of memory. Through this exploration, long held encoded stories can be observed and released.

SEPTEMBER 2020

Images from my series Liminal will be on exhibit at the Photography Atelier 32 at the Griffin Museum in Winchester, MA from September 5 – 27, 2020.

“Liminal”

Inspired by the mythical quality of Hiromi Kakimoto’s images, this series explores the complicated layers of subconscious emotion. I am interested in devising a story that lives on the edge of what is real and what I imagine. Buried as memories or dreams, this work is a bridge between my conscious mind and a subliminal world.

These arbitrary mental hiccups dance between the delicate intimacy of despair and joy, anguish and elation. The images lack a specific narrative as they leap from one to the next. Memories rise to the surface and make connections between disparate ideas – relevant to the moments in time into which they intrude only through a familiar smell, sound, taste, color, touch.

These are the stories we often tell ourselves. A constructed narrative based on the interpretation of facts as only we see them. Not false. But not entirely true.

Please follow me at www.instagram.com/maverrier to see recent work, experiments and explorations.

December 2019 - January 2020

Two images from my series The In-between are now on display at the Bedford Public Library.

SEPTEMBER 2018

Images from my series Not Forgotten will be on exhibit at the Photography Atelier 28 at the Griffin Museum from September 11 – October 5.

OPENING RECEPTION Sunday, September 16, 2018 5:30 - 7:30 P.M.

JULY 2018

A feature in Boston Voyager regarding my personal and creative journey:

http://bostonvoyager.com/interview/check-maria-verriers-artwork/

SEPTEMBER 2017

The In-between, was a part of the Atelier 26 exhibit at The Griffin Museum of Photography in September 2017.

"The In-Between"

What you say and what I hear is not the same.

Simple communication easily becomes distorted. Most of what we try to convey remains a mystery. By the time I decode your message, my own experiences, values and emotions have warped its wished-for meaning.

Even as my chosen words, however well-intended, flow from my mouth to your ears, I can see how imperfect they are. As they float to you, I want to catch them and try again. Distracted by your own thoughts they are lost in the in-between.

Misunderstood or misconstrued. What does it matter?

I am not mechanically generating words I speak with my heart, mind and beliefs, just as you do. Hidden under the layers, the inaudible wish to be understood is muted.

There is no blame. Not on the sender or the receiver.

These images were inspired by a magical trip into the desert to listen to music, an infant at The Perkins School for the Blind nicknamed ‘Jelly’ and the vulnerability of love. The diptychs are intended to represent my own fractured ability to communicate all that is hidden beneath.

JANUARY 2017

Two images from the series Beautiful Decay were on exhibit at Three Stones Gallery in West Concord, Mass., The "Emerging Artists Show."

DECEMBER 2016

Select images from my portfolio were juried into two winter shows: Peter Miller Fine Art Photography Gallery in Providence, RI and the Bromfield Gallery in Boston, MA.

SEPTEMBER + OCTOBER 2016

A select number of images from the series Birds of Sorrow will be on display in the Atelier 24 Exhibit at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA, from September 8th through October 8th.

"Birds of Sorrow"

My daughter left a Chinese proverb on my pillow one night. It read, "You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair." The power and relevance of this statement provided the impetus for the series, Birds of Sorrow. This visual narrative explores the universal emotions of grief and the struggle to find meaning in death. We have all loved, experienced loss and been faced with a complex mosaic of overlapping emotions: anger, sadness, mourning, remembrance.

Not beyond repair, we heal – we allow for the celebration of life by looking forward. These constructed images began deliberately dark and obscure, but I found that as the series evolved ... in came the light.

In December my neighbor was brought to hospice. As I held her hand, she smiled and said, "I've had a really full life, and I've tried just about everything. This is one thing I've never done before. So I guess I'll try it once."

March 2016 | Concord Art | Annual show MJ2, juried by Susan Nalband and John Rizzo of Gallery 555, accepted one of my images from the Birds of Sorrow series for the show.

Not Forgotten is a portfolio project recently completed during the Atelier 2.0 in February, 2016 at The Griffin Museum of Photography.

"Not Forgotten"

The motivation to create the series Not Forgotten was twofold; a newly rediscovered treasure of childhood shoes found in my parents’ attic and a visit to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam where several of his shoe portraits are on display. And so began my persistent hunt for the ideal locations, diffused light and timeless context that would allow me to create an emotional narrative, and evoke the character of the shoe’s possessor. Approaching the project with a perspective that, “every shoe tells a story” the images were created as a means of unfolding subtle hints about the wearer, their circumstance and personal journey. Although universal to us all, shoes embody the particular characteristics of the owner – some elusive, others more explicit. Shoes can provide an escape from reality, an unbound happiness, or armor against life’s unfavorable conditions. In this work, the well-worn shoes suggest a surprisingly intimate and revealing portrait of our human existence.

Loft Five50, Lawrence, MA., 17 original images on display in the newly preserved and renovated textile mill, formerly Malden Mills.

Counting House Lofts, Lowell, MA., featuring 6 images of the Hamilton Manufacturing Company before its artful, historic adaptive reuse.

The series "A True Self" exhibited at the Rockport Art Association, in 2015.

The Voke images, featured in ArchitectureBoston Magazine, in "SEEN" section, page 23. Issue: Spring 2015

THE GRIFFIN MUSEUM of PHOTOGRAPHY ATELIER 21 EXHIBITION | 2015

"A True Self"

"This series of images address the nature of family—what draws us closer together, or pulls us apart? We are individuals and yet we are part of a larger whole; and as part of this fluid confluence of people, we grow, learn, mimic and adapt, even revolt. Sometimes we follow the path of those before us, and at other times we chose our own decidedly different way.

What interests me are the ways in which we are inextricably connected. The strands of one life delicately connected to another. I look for the overlapping ecology of interests, actions and inspirations; and wonder, if in the silence of our own minds, we hide our true selves—the wishes and secrets that contribute to who we truly are.

Elusive moments and unintended ‘reveals’ are what attract my attention and camera’s focus. If I linger long enough, I might be lucky enough to capture a sincere smile, a playful glance, the glimmer of a wandering imagination, a persistent hope – a true self."

THE GRIFFIN MUSEUM of PHOTOGRAPHY ATELIER 20 EXHIBITION | 2014

"Storyteller"

She was nestled in a bookshelf among other discarded dolls and old artifacts. Chaotic hair and overdressed in fire engine red, with eyes that followed you across the room. Small in stature but strong in personality, she was mine for $26. Drawn to her complex gaze, hidden smile and seemingly never-ending expressions, I begin work on an explorative self-portrait series, unveiling autobiographical memories of people and experiences. The images consist of (re)constructed moments in time that have been loosely woven together. Windows into the past, they capture elusive emotions and express experiential moments that are simultaneously personal and universal. Memory serves the storyteller as much as it serves the truth.

"Re-membering"

This body of work represents a continued period of investigation and interpretation, primarily of one's self worth. We are born boundless in potential, creativity, love, compassion and imagination. And yet as we grow, we become bounded. We forget what’s important. We forget who we really are. This series is about remembering. Literally. Re-membering. The scenes are intended to evoke the complexity, splendor and in some cases, the despair of our existence.

"Beautiful Decay"

My father has made a career of preserving the architectural heritage of New England and of other distinct architectural regions throughout the U.S. as lead architect for the conversion of hundreds of historic buildings to new uses - a new life. According to my dad, historic buildings (and often what we find in them) are too important to our identity and national diversity to be considered disposable. It seems I have inherited his love of old things. It fuels my passion to capture and draw attention to objects that are often overlooked – essentially, beautiful decay – in a playful and sometimes disorienting way. I walk through the abandoned mills, schools and hotels with my dad, and as he imagines a new use for them, I capture what were once significant artifacts of a life gone by.

You'll find these images in my portfolio under Beautiful Decay, as well as on display at Voke Lofts the artful restoration of a vocational school in Worcester, MA, Counting House Lofts in Lowell, MA, and Sibley a 1M square foot former department store in Rochester, NY, among others.

Please contact me for more information regarding the work, and/or the purchase of original or limited edition prints, upcoming shows, licensing, exhibiting and commissions. All photographs are signed and numbered.

maverrier66@gmail.com

Photographing an abandoned school in Southbridge, MA.