Through the Lens: Presence and Absence

Artist Reception on Saturday August 8th 3PM -5PM

Show Dates: August 8th - September 13th

Saturdays and Sundays 1PM -4PM

Location: ArtWorks Gallery, 69 Main Street, Ware, MA

THROUGH THE LENS: PRESENCE AND ABSENCE

What we see in a photograph is often shaped by what is missing. Presence / Absence invites images that explore the relationship between visibility and implication—spaces that suggest human presence, objects that stand in for memory, or scenes where absence speaks as strongly as presence.

All photographic capture (camera/photogram/scanography) and printing processes (alternative/experimental, traditional/darkroom, photo based etching, intaglio, screen printing) are eligible, as are photo-collage, and photographic mixed-media. AI-generated images will not be considered. Entries must be original works not previously shown at ArtWorks Gallery.

This show will be juried by James Gehrt.

James Gehrt is a fine art photographer, educator, and archivist. His black-and-white photographs explore perception, memory, and the material history of photography. His images often focus on ordinary subjects, such as quiet architectural details, simple

forms, and overlooked spaces, where light and time transform the familiar into something contemplative and enduring. His practice bridges historical photographic processes and contemporary digital workflows, reflecting a sustained engagement with how photographs are made and how they shape the act of looking.

Gehrt has exhibited widely, including solo exhibitions at the Photographic Resource Center in Boston, Hampden Gallery at UMass Amherst, and Springfield Technical Community College. His work was recently featured in The Boston Globe and The Paris

Review. He teaches Photographic Archives in the graduate program at Simmons University and serves as Corporate Archivist at MassMutual. Earlier in his career, he worked as Lab Manager at The Chicago Albumen Works in the late 1990s and early

2000s, where he printed in silver gelatin and historic processes for the Met, Philadelphia Museum of Art, the National Archives, as well as other museums and archives.