Cart Search
submit Remember my login

Looking for a chapter event?

Past SPE Annual Conferences

Northeast Chapter Conference Schedule

print this page

"Photography, Visibility and Community" - Mary Beth Meehan

Saturday, November 07 - 11:15AM to 12:00PM

In June of 2015, eight portraits from my "Seen/Unseen" portfolio were installed as forty-foot banners on the exteriors of buildings in downtown Providence. The photographs depict “ordinary” Providence residents, whom I met while traveling the city, collaborating with them to make their portraits and collect the stories.


In an artist’s talk and public conversation at the RISD Museum of Art, and in informal conversations city wide, the installation has prompted passionate dialogue surrounding issues of urban identities, media and institutional invisibility, and the segregated nature of a multi-ethnic city such as Providence. Verbally and in written correspondence, the wave of feedback continues about the impact of making ordinary people larger than life, and using the built environment, rather than a traditional gallery setting, to mirror the city of Providence back to itself.


One woman whose father, a Haitian immigrant, is pictured in a forty-foot portrait, said: “It’s not only an honor for him, but it is an honor for the [Haitian] community in itself. When one person is lifted up, everyone’s lifted up. And that’s how our community felt when they saw his portrait. . . They’re taking pictures of it, standing in front of it, telling people in Haiti about it. . . . It’s huge. It’s huge.”


In Brockton, Mass., where residents lived with my photographs in the cityscape for one year, one resident said: “The pictures reminded me that I have no right to make judgments about other folks unless I’m willing to become a part of their life, and understand what they’re working through.”


In “Photography, Visibility and Community,” I would like to describe the process and outcomes of this work, including earlier portfolios, such as my City of Champions installation in Brockton, Mass., Undocumented: Photographs from the Homes of Undocumented Immigrants, and my work as a teacher at the International Charter School. As the tragic events in Ferguson, Baltimore, and elsewhere, have unfolded this year, we are reminded that we often know very little, and are unable to empathize with, the people with whom we share our communities. In this talk I hope to illuminate my experience of using photography as an agent of this kind of connection.

Email Sign Up

SPE email updates contain resources, news, and more!

About this piece

Comments about this piece

Dialogue and critique are important to the SPE mission.
Please join the conversation.

Exit Full Screen Mode