A cornerstone of Somerville’s character is the remaining religious statues in its front yards. These icons, threatened with extinction from the city’s development, are like colorful relics, displayed in homemade shelters and shrines, as well as in bathtubs half-sunk in the ground—known locally as Mary’s on the Half Shell or Bathtub Madonnas. There are also many statues of St. Francis and the Infant Jesus, among others.
Gary Duehr’s photo documentary offers a window into a way of life that is gradually disappearing, when generations of working class families lived in triple-deckers.
FEATURED ARTIST:
Gary Duehr
OPENING RECEPTION:
Saturday, November 7, 2015 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
EXHIBITION DATES:
November 7– 14, 2015
LOCATION:
Nave Gallery Annex, 53 Chester St, Somerville, MA
GALLERY HOURS:
Wednesday-Friday, 6:00 pm-8:00 pm
Saturday and Sunday, 2:00 pm-6:00 pm
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Gary Duehr is a Somerville artist who has been chosen as a Best Emerging Artist in New England by the International Association of Art Critics, and he has received an Artist Grant in photography from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. His work has been featured in museums and galleries including the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA; MOMA PS 1, New York, NY; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; and Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba, as well as exhibitions in Tokyo, Venice, London and beyond.
The Last Saints of Somerville is an expansion upon Duehr’s 1998’s photo survey of Somerville’s religious statues, which was funded by the LEF Foundation and which culminated in an exhibition at the Somerville Library.
