State of Our Union 2026 - Griffin Museum of Photography

State of Our Union 2026 - Griffin Museum of Photography
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State of Our Union
offers a year-long, global photographic exploration of America’s multifaceted landscape, dissecting its cultural and visual narratives through diverse exhibitions and events, revealing a complex national identity.
This exhibition series, a direct response to Robert Frank’s “The Americans,” aims to provide a contemporary, critical examination of the American experience through the lens of photography. In 2026, as the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States approaches, this series of exhibitions seeks to move beyond patriotic and idealized narratives and reveal the social, economic, and cultural complexities that define the nation. In our fractured society, we look to engage dialogue, challenge assumptions, and raise marginalized voices, providing a more comprehensive understanding of America’s multifaceted reality. The exhibitions take place at the Griffin Museum of Photography, with additional online and satellite exhibitions as time and space allow to flesh out this portrait of America. Each exhibition features a diverse group of photographers, national and International including emerging, mid career and artists of stature.
Through the lens of American landscape, labor, culture and music we seek to see ourselves in a new light, seeing where we fell short of our expectations and celebrating our success.
Manifest Destiny
Austin Bryant, Craig Easton, Drew Leventhal, Lisa Elmaleh
Rich Frishman, Scott Conarroe, Victoria Sambunaris & John Willis
© Scott Conarroe
© Scott Conarroe
© Lisa Elmaleh
© Lisa Elmaleh
© Lisa Elmaleh
© Drew Leventhal
© Drew Leventhal
© Richard Frishman
Rich Frishman
© Victoria Sambunaris
© Victoria Sambunaris
© Craig Easton
© Craig Easton
© Austin Bryant
© Austin Bryant
About the Exhibition
Manifest Destiny
refers to the 19th-century belief that the United States was destined to expand westward across North America. Artists of that era often responded by romanticizing expansion and conquest, depicting the West as a vast and “empty” landscape filled with promise. Such images concealed the realities of dispossession and erased the enduring presence of the peoples and cultures who had long inhabited these lands.
The
Griffin Museum
’s exhibition
Manifest Destiny
revisits this legacy through a contemporary lens, bringing together photographers who investigate the layered histories held within the American landscape. The artists in this exhibition create images that bear witness to transformation, revealing human stories embedded in the land’s somber monumentality. Here, the emptiness of the landscape becomes a site of tension—between absence and presence, memory and erasure.
Learn more about this exhibition
here
.
Installation image, Richard Frischman
Installation image, Austin Bryant
Installation image, Drew Leventhal
Installation image, Lisa Elmaleh
Installation image, Craig Easton
Watch the
Exhibition Video
Watch the Exhibition Video
Produced by Coby Berger & Vicente Cayuela
Read the
interviews
with the
artists
Craig Easton’s ongoing body of work ‘Notes on the American Road Trip’ examines how photography has shaped global perceptions of the United States, questioning how images circulate as cultural “soft…
Lisa Elmaleh’s Promised Land / Tierra Prometida documents migration along the U.S.–Mexico border through long-term travel, collaboration with humanitarian aid groups, and large-format photography. Her project focuses on the lived…
Drew Leventhal’s series Mason & Dixon explores the Mason-Dixon Line that divides Pennsylvania from Maryland. Interested in the border’s history and mythology, this body of work captures landscapes and encounters…
Labor Daily: American Working Class
| Curated by Carl Corey
Carl Corey, Chris Aluka Barry, Daniel Overturf, Inna Valin, Julie Dermansky, Terry Evans and Xavier Tavera
© Carl Corey
© Chris Aluka Berry
© Dan Overturf
© Inna Valin
© Julie Dermansky
© Terry Evans
Xavier Tavera
This exhibition,
Labor
Daily
, seeks to celebrate and explore the many facets of work as it exists now. Through the eyes of talented photographers from across the nation, we see labor in its persistence, its transformation, and its quiet resilience. These images remind us of the central truth: that labor is not only about what we produce, but about who we are. It still defines us.
Labor has always defined America. It built our cities, sustained our families, and shaped the nation’s identity. For generations, work nurtured not only financial stability but also emotional strength. It provided security, a home, the means to raise a family. At the core of the American middle class, labor equaled pride, purpose, and a sense of belonging. But today that pride in work has diminished. Work has shifted, and with it, the values and goals that once gave labor its meaning. Too often, what was once seen as dignity and fulfillment has been reduced to mere survival. It is a sobering reflection of where we are as a country.
Learn more about this exhibition
here
.
Labors of Love
| Illuminating the Archive
Edward Boches & Arthur Griffin
© Edward Boches
© Edward Boches
© Edward Boches
© Edward Boches
© Edward Boches
© Edward Boches
Edward Boches is a Boston- and Cape Cod–based documentary photographer whose work reflects a sustained interest in people deeply engaged in the practices that define their lives. Over the past eight years, he has pursued long-term projects examining communities such as amateur boxers, social activists, and oyster farmers, as well as subjects encountered through newspaper assignments, including artists, actors, dancers, circus performers, and award-winning chefs. His photographic approach is grounded in observation and curiosity about process rather than outcome. Rather than focusing on finished performances or products, Boches is drawn to the preparation, discipline, and dedication that shape creative and labor-driven pursuits. Across his subjects—ranging from Pulitzer Prize–winning authors and accomplished sculptors to working farmers and live performers—Boches seeks to honor the passion and commitment that sustain meaningful work. When invited by the Griffin Museum to present work in dialogue with Arthur Griffin’s archival images as a companion to
Labor Daily | American Working Class
, Boches discovered a shared visual interest in individuals engaged in skill-based and passion-driven labor, including athletes, artists, and fishermen. He views this body of work as a conversation about common purpose, respect for craft, and the dignity of work, using photography as a means of fostering empathy and human connection.
Learn more about this exhibition
here
.
The Endangered Lobsterman
Cheryl Clegg
© Cheryl Clegg
© Cheryl Clegg
© Cheryl Clegg
© Cheryl Clegg
Originally motivated by concerns about the “red-listing” of American lobsters and the potential classification of the species as endangered, Clegg turned her attention to the Maine lobstering communities directly affected by these environmental and regulatory changes. Recognizing the threat such designations pose to a way of life built over generations, Clegg began photographing families within these communities to document the people behind the industry. Her work aims to reveal the human dimension of the crisis, capturing the strength, resilience, and uncertainty experienced by those whose livelihoods are tied to lobstering. The resulting images combine aesthetic beauty with social significance, highlighting pride, community bonds, and the distinctive cultural heritage of Maine’s lobstering communities, which have endured across multiple generations despite environmental, economic, and regulatory pressures.
Learn more about this exhibition
here
.
Vision(ary):
Raising Our Voices
Curated by Elizabeth Krist and the Griffin Museum team
© Donna Bassin | From Vision(ary) 2025
© Stephan Jahanshahi | From Vision(ary) 2025
© Donna Bassin | From Vision(ary) 2025
© Stephan Jahanshahi | From Vision(ary) 2025
© Donna Bassin | From Vision(ary) 2025
© Isabella Kahn | From Vision(ary) 2025
From the Civil Rights Movement to contemporary struggles for racial equity, gender justice, environmental protection, labor rights, immigration reform, and democratic accountability, protest has shaped the American narrative. Photography has been central to this history—documenting resistance, amplifying voices, and creating images that define collective memory.
For this year’s Vision(ary), we seek sustained photographic projects that examine activism within the United States—past or present. We are interested in work that engages with organized movements, grassroots action, community advocacy, and the evolving language of civic expression. Projects may focus on public demonstrations, acts of resistance, inter-generational organizing, or the lasting impact of social movements on individuals and communities.
Learn more about this exhibition
here
.
TLC (Tender Loving Care)
Curated by Dr. Delphine Sims , Assistant Curator of Photography, SFMOMA
Alanna Airitam, Harlan Bozeman, Camille Farrah Lenin, Charles H. Lee and Star Montana
© Charles H Lee
© Harlan Bozema
© Starr Montana
© Alanna Airitam
Robert Frank was distinctly alone as he traversed the United States capturing scenes of
quotidian life that would eventually become his seminal photobook
The Americans
. Decades
later, five artists from across the United States capture portraits in and of community,
shedding the notion of the lone, outsider photographer. TLC celebrates five photographers
who interweave closeness and community into their practice. With tender, loving, care these
photographers capture portraits in a manner that honors distinct environments and
communities that care for, protect, and affirm one another. Charles H Lee has immersed
himself amongst Black cowboys across the United States, most recently joining horse riders
to photograph the legacy of their midwestern rodeos. Harlan Bozeman befriends young
Black people in Elaine, Arkansas, photographing their youthful exuberance, daily life, and
curiosity about photography in a small town mired by historical racial violence. Camille
Farrah Lenain joins queer folk across Southern states as they turn to gun ownership to
grapple with precarity and violence stemming from trans and queer phobias. Alanna Airitam
captures portraits of stylish, filial, and leather clad members of motorcycle gangs before a studio set up. Star Montana reworks family archival portraits and incorporates self- portraiture in installations that contemplate matriarchal, Chicana legacies and survival. These artists gather with communities, understanding the people they photograph, reflecting their sensibilities back to them, and creating images imbued with respect and affect.
A Home for a Spirit – Lua Kobayashi
Baby Wrap
Camp Drawing
Children’s Shoes
Note
Pearls
In September 2025, I spent time moving through the greater Boston area, sitting with Japanese-American individuals and families in spaces where stories are held—living rooms, kitchens, and quiet corners shaped by daily life. Within these intimate settings, people shared personal histories, reflections on what it means to be Japanese-American today, and the objects that have traveled with them across generations. These conversations were generous and deeply moving, revealing how culture is preserved not only through documentation, but through care, trust, and the act of keeping. This project takes the form of a quiet, immersive installation centered on projection, shared memory, and a belief rooted in Japanese folklore: that objects, after a long life of use, may awaken as tsukumogami, or spirits. Within this tradition, belongings are not passive. They absorb touch, time, and emotion—carrying the presence of those who have lived alongside them. The installation is created from materials entrusted to me during these conversations: paintings depicting scenes from incarceration camps, inherited household objects, and handwritten notes meant to guide possessions toward future generations. Each contribution holds deep personal significance, speaking to family, survival, and continuity across time. Through projection, these objects and images are animated into living landscapes and spirits, suggesting movement, breath, and attention as they shift between stillness and life—gradually inhabiting and overtaking the space within the Griffin. This exhibition presents these stories through projected imagery and, when possible, the physical presence of belongings offered by participants. Together, the works honor not only individual lives, but the broader, often unseen histories of Japanese-American communities in the greater Boston area. Functioning as a living archive, the installation creates space for remembrance, intergenerational exchange, and the quiet persistence of memory—held within the things we choose to keep.
Common Time : American Musicality
Janette Beckman, Margo Cooper, William Feiring, Bootsy Holler, Henry Horenstein, Ron Pownall with selections from the collections of Evan Mirapaul and Gary Leonard
Common Time: American Musicality
examines the profound influence of American music on global culture through the work of six photographers whose images form an essential visual record of the nation’s sonic history. The exhibition considers music as a defining expression of American identity at a moment of renewed national reflection. The exhibition takes its title from “common time,” the most widely used musical meter, invoking a shared rhythmic structure that allows diverse voices to move together. Here, common time becomes a metaphor for American musicality itself: a cultural framework shaped by migration, innovation, resilience, and cross-cultural exchange. From the blues and jazz to honky tonk, rock and roll, hip hop, grunge, and classical traditions reinterpreted in the United States, these forms have shaped not only global sound but global understandings of freedom, authorship, and cultural belonging.
Through photography, the exhibition preserves and interprets the environments, communities, and individuals who propelled these movements. Janette Beckman’s portraits of early hip hop and punk artists established enduring global iconography around youth culture and creative resistance. Margo Cooper’s intimate depictions of blues musicians illuminate artistic discipline and innovation at the highest level. William Feiring’s portraits of Americans listening to music as they are being photographed gives a moving portrait of the power of music and American expression. Henry Horenstein situates country and roots traditions within their social landscapes, emphasizing the relationship between community and creativity. Ron Pownall captures pivotal moments in rock and classical performance that reflect the scale and international reach of American music. Complementing these perspectives, Bootsy Holler’s series
Making It
foregrounds women in photography through her documentation of the grunge scene, offering a critical examination of authorship and gender within music culture. Selections from the collections of Evan Mirapaul and Gary Leonard further expand the exhibition’s historical depth.
At a time when national identity is actively debated and redefined,
Common Time
asserts that American musicality remains one of the country’s most powerful and unifying cultural contributions. Within the
State of Our Union
framework, the exhibition positions music not as entertainment alone, but as civic language—an evolving, collective rhythm that continues to shape both the nation and the world.
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Welcome we are excited to have you and your creativity seen by so many.
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Amy Rindskopf's Terra Novus
At the market, I pick each one up, pulled in by the shapes as they sit together, waiting. I feel its heft in my hand, enjoy the textures of the skin or peel, and begin to look closer and closer. The patterns on each individual surface marks them as distinct. I push further still, discovering territory unseen by the casual observer, a new land. I am like a satellite orbiting a distant planet, taking the first-ever images of this newly envisioned place.
This project started as an homage to Edward Weston’s Pepper No. 30 (I am, ironically, allergic to peppers). As I looked for my subject matter at the market, I found that I wasn’t drawn to just one single fruit or vegetable. There were so many choices, appealing to both hand and eye. I decided to print in black and white to help make the images visually more about the shapes, and not about guessing which fruit is smoothest, which vegetable is greenest.
Artistic Purpose/Intent
Artistic Purpose/Intent
Tricia Gahagan
Photography has been paramount in my personal path of healing from disease and
connecting with consciousness. The intention of my work is to overcome the limits of the
mind and engage the spirit. Like a Zen koan, my images are paradoxes hidden in plain
sight. They are intended to be sat with meditatively, eventually revealing greater truths
about the world and about one’s self.
John Chervinsky’s photography is a testament to pensive work without simple answers;
it connects by encouraging discovery and altering perspectives. I see this scholarship
as a potential to continue his legacy and evolve the boundaries of how photography can
explore the human condition.
Growing my artistic skill and voice as an emerging photographer is critical, I see this as
a rare opportunity to strengthen my foundation and transition towards an established
and influential future. I am thirsty to engage viewers and provide a transformative
experience through my work. I have been honing my current project and building a plan
for its complete execution. The incredible Griffin community of mentors and the
generous funds would be instrumental for its development. I deeply recognize the
hallmark moment this could be for the introduction of the work. Thank you for providing
this incredible opportunity for budding visions and artists that know they have something
greater to share with the world.
Fran Forman RSVP