May 28-June 28, 2015
The Cultural Center at Rocky Neck
6 Wonson Street, Gloucester, MA 01930
Gallery hours, Thurs-Sun, 12:00-4:00 PM, until 6PM in June
Meet the Artist Reception Thursday, May 28, 6:30-8:00 PM
Talkback with Nubar Alexanian Sunday, June 14, 4:5:30 PM
Gloucester MA, February 26, 2015 —The Rocky Neck Art Colony (RNAC) is pleased to announce the exhibition: When The Fish Came First, Nubar Alexanian’s photographs of Gloucester, opening May 28 and running through June 28, 2015 at the Cultural Center at Rocky Neck, 6 Wonson Street, Gloucester. Spanning forty years, the exhibit features a stunning series of color photographs originally published in GEO magazine in 1981 and never before exhibited. For this work, taken over an eighteen month period, Alexanian accompanied the Brancaleone family of Gloucester on four ten-day trips to Georges Bank aboard the Joseph & Lucia II. It is the most comprehensive contemporary document of commercial fishing in New England before its steep decline.
While the Joseph and Lucia series forms the heart of this collection, the exhibition’s upland component features large format black and white panoramas juxtaposed with images of everyday life and the intimate and collective rituals that give Gloucester its unique character. “In his fish photos Alexanian finds a metaphor of the people of Gloucester – endangered, atavistic, communal – and they’re as riveting as they are forlorn.” Christopher Millis, The Boston Phoenix
When The Fish Came First is a watershed one-person exhibition that should not be missed.
This exhibition was made possible by the generosity and support of Linzee and Beth Coolidge.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Nubar Alexanian is a documentary photographer and filmmaker. His photographs have been featured in The New York Times Magazine, Life, Fortune, Geo, Time and Newsweek among others, and has had solo exhibitions at The Walker Art Center, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, The Burden Gallery, The Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, The LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph and other venues.
He is currently working on Scars of Silence, a feature documentary film about the Armenian Genocide, and directing Science All Around Us, a groundbreaking educational television series hosted by an exceptional 9-year-old boy who makes connections between scientific concepts and life in the everyday world.
Good Morning Gloucester 