Join MASS MoCA Senior Curator Susan Cross for a conversation with American photographer Holly Lynton. Lynton’s first book, Bare Handed, presents a nuanced portrait of rural life throughout 21st-century America — and we have the last remaining copies in the world! (Plus an exclusive book-with-print edition you’ll only find at the R&D Store.)

In Bare Handed, we see Lynton return to specific communities year after year moving beyond mythology to reveal a complex social landscape suffused with tradition but unburdened by nostalgia. The gestural portraits and visceral landscapes depict people working barehanded, using tools that have been largely replaced by mechanization. This decade-long series goes far beyond the yields of harvest time to celebrate an almost spiritual state of being that emerges from a time-honored practice, and underscores a commitment to unmediated experiences with the natural world. The book includes original poetry and essays by art historians Terence Washington and Carl Fuldner.

This event is free, but space is limited. To ensure enough books & seats are on hand, please RSVP via ticket link.

MASS MoCA’s new Research & Development Store (R&D Store) combines gallery and retail space focused on exhibiting, producing, and procuring affordable contemporary artist editions and books of the highest quality. Hosting author events, book and record launches, and intimate performances, the R&D Store’s nimble model of public programming advances and supports MASS MoCA’s creative impact and mission.

About the Artist:
Holly Lynton is an artist living in Western Massachusetts. Lynton received a BA from Yale University in 1994 and an MFA in Photography from Bard College in 2000. Her photographs have been exhibited internationally and are held in several public collections. Lynton has received numerous awards and grants including the 2021 Critical Mass Top 50, an Aaron Siskind Individual Photographer’s Fellowship, a Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship, and the Syngenta Photography Award. Yale University awarded her a postdoctoral research fellowship in 2019 at the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition for her series Under the Brush Arbor, an exploration of Methodist camp meetings in South Carolina. Her work has been featured in publications such as The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Guardian, The Miami Herald, Southern Cultures, and Harvard Design Magazine. Recent exhibitions include On the Basis of Art, 150 Years of Women at Yale (2021), at the Yale University Art Gallery, and a solo exhibition in collaboration with Maurice Wallace: Meeting Tonight: Two South Carolina African American Camp Meetings at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University (2022).

Have some time before the program? Our Research & Development Store is open until live events begin.
If you’re seeking a bite, check out restaurants in downtown North Adams, or find a nosh right here on campus: BIGGDADDY’s Philly Steak House, Bright Ideas Brewing, Casita, or Lickety Split Café. A full bar serves Bright Idea Brewing beers and Berkshire Mountain Distillery spirits.