New photo exhibition, book capture 21st-century life in NH
The “New Hampshire Now” statewide photographic exhibition and accompanying book could just as accurately be called “The Real New Hampshire,” with its honest and heartfelt representation of the good, the bad and the beautiful that makes up the Granite State.
The exhibition and book are the culmination of a two-year project that saw nearly 50 photographers capturing the people, places and events that make the state what it is.
“I felt that we needed to make a photographic document that reflects New Hampshire in the 21st century,” said Gary Samson, who proposed the project to the New Hampshire Society of Photographic Artists. “I was really thrilled that the NHSPA wanted to take [it on].”
The photographers all volunteered their time and covered the state’s seven regions, taking pictures of whatever they personally thought represents the real New Hampshire, in this moment.
“I was not aiming to produce a pretty picture book of New Hampshire,” Samson said. “The story here, really, is the photographers digging in.”
That, of course, meant including the pandemic. Samson said meeting in person became impossible, but it gave them the chance to extend and change the direction of the project, and to safely document the pandemic.
“There were some photographers who really dug into that,” Samson said. “Like life, the project became somewhat unpredictable.”
The project also took an interesting turn when, several months into it, the New Hampshire Historical Society offered to collaborate on it. Originally the photos were going to serve as a sort of historical document that would be archived for future generations. But the Society raised funds to publish a book and arranged for eight cultural centers around the state to host exhibitions.
Each exhibition contains images from the collection that are most relevant to that region. But Samson said there are major themes that are included in most of them, like the pandemic, the presidential election, homelessness and Black Lives Matter.
“I think the shows are pretty fair in what they represent,” he said.
Still, what you see at the show at the Millyard Museum in Manchester is not the same show as the one you’ll get up north, to the west or on the Seacoast.
“I love the bucolic countryside photos that may have come to us from Lancaster or Colebrook or even the Seacoast, but that’s not the reality of Manchester,” Manchester Historic Association Executive Director John Clayton said. “Our particular slice of the state is far more populous, beset with the problems that come with urban areas.”
Samson said there’s a whole section of the book about homelessness in Manchester, which he saw firsthand when he spent part of a day photographing the city.
“I was stunned when I saw so many tents around the courthouse and the park,” he said. “This is also an important story to tell about New Hampshire; there are a lot of people who are in desperate straits.”
Clayton said he hopes that people who come to the Millyard exhibition will look at it and be able to think about the state in greater depth.
“I think this will be an eye-opener,” he said.
Fletcher Manley, one of the project’s most prolific photographers, captured a very different piece of New Hampshire.
“I live up here in the North Country and I wanted to represent the North Country,” he said. “This is not a terribly gentrified part of the state. It’s still “fringey” … and that’s part of the appeal to a good many.”
Manley said he focused on the area’s “tremendous natural resources,” like the White Mountain range. But he also took shots of people that symbolize what it means to live in northern New Hampshire. One was of a young woman working in her garden with a young child on her back; when he saw her, he thought of an earth goddess working the soil. In the image, the little girl’s smile is as big as her mother’s.
“You can’t plan for these shots,” he said.
There’s also an image of a man who has lived up north his whole life and used to work in the paper mills. He built his own home, tills his own soil and played a big part in the grassroots effort to stop Northern Pass.
“He’s typical of the resourcefulness of the people up here,” Manley said.
Manley used his own resourcefulness to take photos that he thinks outsiders wouldn’t have been able to get.
“You really need to be of an area so you know the nooks and crannies … and whose backyards you can cross through,” Manley said.
The “New Hampshire Now” flagship exhibition is at the New Hampshire Historical Society in Concord, with images that represent the state as a whole, so it includes Manley’s North Country along with the six other regions.
The Millyard Museum will host a discussion panel on the exhibit on Saturday, Oct. 9, at 11 a.m. with photographers Samson, Claudia Rippee and Mark Bolton, with Clayton moderating.
“There are many different New Hampshires, and I think people who come [here] will see there’s much more of an urban flavor to the Manchester and Merrimack Valley exhibit.”
“New Hampshire Now”
For more information about the exhibition and where to purchase the New Hampshire Now book, visit newhampshirenow.org.
Region-specific exhibitions
Belknap Mill Society, Laconia
Davidow Center for Art + Design, New London
Historical Society of Cheshire County, Keene
Millyard Museum, Manchester
Museum of the White Mountains, Plymouth
New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord
Portsmouth Historical Society, Portsmouth
Tillotson Center, Colebrook
Events
A Discussion with New Hampshire Now Photographers
Project Director Gary Samson and photographers Claudia Rippee and Mark Bolton for a panel discussion about their work on the project.
Where: Manchester Historic Association’s Millyard Museum
When: Saturday, Oct. 9, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Cost: Free and open to the public. For advanced registration, call 622-7531 or email [email protected].
New Hampshire Historical Society: New Hampshire Through the Lens of a Camera
Join a panel of photographers who participated in “New Hampshire Now” and learn more about their experiences capturing the Granite State and Granite Staters.
Where: Virtual
When: Wednesday, Oct. 13, 7 to 8:30 p.m.
Cost: Free. Register through Eventbrite.com.
New Hampshire Historical Society: “More than Just a Pretty Picture”
Gary Samson and art historian Inez McDermott explore how “New Hampshire Now” fits in with other documentary photography projects in American history and discuss recurring themes that emerged during the project.
Where: New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord
When: Saturday, Oct. 16, 2 to 4 p.m.
Cost: Free with the price of admission ($7)
Featured photo: New Hampshire Now. Courtesy photo.
