Anywhere – Everywhere: Selections from the Peter J. Cohen Collection of Vernacular Photography

Over 300 vernacular photographs from the Peter J. Cohen Collection—snapshots, found images, and postcards spanning the 20th and 21st centuries—celebrating ordinary and extraordinary human behavior. About BFA Visual and Critical Studies presents "Anywhere–Everywhere: Selections from the Peter J. Cohen Collection of Vernacular Photography" on view Friday, October 2 – Thursday, November 12, with an opening reception on Thursday, October 8, 6:00 – 8:00pm. Over 300 photographs will be exhibited and visitors will be encouraged to vote for their favorite photograph. One name will be drawn from the ballot box on the final day of the exhibition, winning the photograph they selected as their favorite. Vernacular photography, almost always anonymous, can be portraits, landscapes, still lives; snapshots commemorating all sorts of occasions, from family gatherings to graduations, picnics to funerals. Often found in flea markets, antique shops and garage sales, they are both documents and mysteries. Sometimes spontaneous, sometimes posed, vernacular photography marks the transition—and availability—of photography from the studio and the "photographer" to the public at large because of readily available and affordable cameras. The Peter J. Cohen collection—snapshots, everyday photos, found images and postcards—total over 100,000 photographs dating the entire 20th century, into the 21st century. Energetically acquired over 30 years, the collection reveals the keen eye of the collector safeguarding and honoring ordinary and extraordinary human behavior and interests. Posed or not, the photos are of a shared reality of laughing, loving, grieving, celebrating, playing; all that we do when we do everything and nothing. The exhibition is organized by BFA Visual and Critical Studies faculty member Peter Hristoff (BFA 1981 Fine Arts) and curated by former and current BFA Visual and Critical Studies students, including Bronwyn Alexander, Celian Bermudez Ayuso, Lucy Rosa Blanca, Soomin Cho, Polina Dushenkovska, Vivienne Feinberg, Rue Kim, Petra Kruty, Mari Fletcher-Lewis, Rachel Masefield, Rania Mouawad, Anthony O'Donnell, Natalie Straton, Molly Sullivan, and Sal Tomasi. Special thanks to Peter J. Cohen, Carly Reis, Tom Huhn, Paloma Crousillat, Mike Falk, and Kayla Gibbons. Read more Toggle Photography