October 8 - December 29, 2019

Photos: Please do not Bend, the Catherine Johnson Collection

In an age of digital images and millions of “selfies” being posted online, it is difficult to imagine a world where photographs were precious commodities that were not only expensive, but took a relatively long time to have produced. They often arrived in the mail, and senders frequently wrote on the envelopes: “Photos: Please do not Bend." Over several decades, scouring house sales, antique shops, and online, Catherine Johnson amassed a collection of ordinary “snapshots” of people and their dogs. Standing in contrast to the posed portraits of show dogs, the collection chronicles the vernacular of the everyday life of dogs and humans in years gone by.