29:(born 1948) is an American photographer and educator who lives in western Massachusetts. Her staged scenes of mundane middle-class life, using family, friends and strangers, which appear to be documentary at first sight, are intended to address "the nature of the documentary image in contemporary culture."
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I was interested in how the best pictures create their own fictions, I considered all my subjects (whether they were friends or strangers) my "cast of characters" who were complicit in whatever I did. My working method was to set up my camera and either wait for something to happen or simply direct
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camera. Originally when exhibited, the images were paired with captions. The captions "come from the paperback romances that the women she photographs presumably read, and her choice of captions is invariably both apt and funny. Though her witty texts seem appropriate to the pictures, they are
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My use of large format film insures the fact that every detail in a scene will be described with painful accuracy and the open flash I use illuminates these surfaces with a neutral, democratic light, so no detail takes precedence over another, giving everything in my scenes equal visual
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my subjects to recreate an action or moment, as if they were truly engaged in their activities… For me, the most interesting photographs hover somewhere between feeling documentary and set-up, thus questioning the inherent "truth" of the photographic image.
116:, wrote that "how she captures her large cast of characters going about their lives without them being self-conscious in her presence, is the real marvel." Originally made for gallery walls rather than for book format, the work was published as
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actually ... revealing of her subjects' actual thoughts". When this work was published as a book in 2018, the strict pairings of text and image were abandoned, but the phrases still included throughout.
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that these photographs "seem quite naturalistic, but are in part staged by the photographer, and she avoids the temptation to romanticize." William Zimmer, reviewing an exhibition of
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Frey makes staged scenes of mundane middle-class life, using family, friends and strangers, which appear to be documentary at first sight. She has said:
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is colour work in the same vein as her previous work, made between 1984 and 1987 using a
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Frey grew up in
Yonkers, a borough of New York City. She was the oldest of 6 children.
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554:"Spontaneous but fictional moments of the American life, by Mary Frey – Picto NY"
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744:"Off the Radar: Mark Steinmetz on Nine Women Photographers of the Northeast"
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is composed of black and white work made between 1979 and 1983 using a 4×5
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For the chief scientist for the NASA Neurolab
Spacelab module mission, see
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After her MFA, she accepted a full-time position teaching photography at
830:"New Photography 2: Mary Frey, David Hanson, and Philip-Lorca diCorcia"
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New
Photography 2: Mary Frey, David Hanson, and Philip-Lorca diCorcia
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696:"Works | Mary Frey | People | the MFAH Collections"
515:"PHOTOGRPAHY VIEW; A NEW BREED PUTS ITS OWN STAMP ON THE MEDIAN"
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Frey's work is held in the following permanent collections:
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in New York, and held in the collection there and at the
607:"ART ; PHOTOGRAPHY IN THREE SHOWS AT HUDSON MUSEUM"
443:"Photographer Mary Frey to speak at Longmeadow library"
327:, Copenhagen Photo Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2019
40:. Her work has been shown in group exhibitions at the
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311:, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1991. Curated by
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319:Pictures by Women: a History of Modern Photography
798:"GUGGENHEIM FOUNDATION AWARDS FELLOWSHIPS TO 283"
297:Group exhibitions or exhibitions during festivals
972:An interview with Frey on the Magic Hour podcast
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577:"Peperoni Books : Reading Raymond Carver"
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855:"The Terror and Pleasure of Staying at Home"
773:"Mary Frey: The States Project: Connecticut"
717:"Mary Frey - I'm The Narrator Of The Story"
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286:Domestic Rituals: Photography by Mary Frey
258:, Chicago, IL: 2 prints (as of April 2021)
32:In 1984 Frey had a solo exhibition at the
646:John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
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321:, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2010/11
309:Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic Comfort
305:, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1986/87
264:, Houston, TX: 1 print (as of April 2021)
241:John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
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325:Domestic Rituals & Real Life Dramas
270:, New York: 9 prints (as of April 2021)
96:camera and diffuse flashbulb lighting.
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513:Grundberg, Andy (28 December 1986).
477:"PHOTOGRAPHY VIEW; Beyond Narration"
1042:21st-century American women artists
992:20th-century American photographers
987:21st-century American photographers
880:"A Gathering of Women With Cameras"
475:Thornton, Gene (14 December 1986).
605:Zimmer, William (26 August 1984).
16:American photographer and educator
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211:. With an essay by Tim Carpenter.
1037:Photographers from Massachusetts
936:"Copenhagen Photo Festival 2019"
441:Robbins, Carolyn (24 May 2019).
376:Dickerman, Kenneth; Frey, Mary.
878:Cotter, Holland (27 May 2010).
853:Knelman, Sara (25 March 2020).
1002:University of Hartford faculty
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1012:People from Yonkers, New York
179:. Blue Sky Book 9. Portland:
997:American women photographers
673:The Art Institute of Chicago
262:Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
50:Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
1047:20th-century American women
916:copenhagenphotofestival.com
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203:. Berlin: Peperoni, 2018.
189:. Berlin: Peperoni, 2017.
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1007:Yale School of Art alumni
1032:Conceptual photographers
1027:American women academics
834:The Museum of Modern Art
357:The Museum of Modern Art
256:Art Institute of Chicago
165:. Self-published, 2014.
56:Early life and education
46:Art Institute of Chicago
120:in 2017. She has said:
63:She earned an MFA from
187:Reading Raymond Carver
151:University of Hartford
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118:Reading Raymond Carver
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912:"Biography Mary Frey"
237:Guggenheim Fellowship
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38:Guggenheim Fellowship
268:Museum of Modern Art
42:Museum of Modern Art
292:, Yonkers, NY, 1984
290:Hudson River Museum
147:Hartford Art School
34:Hudson River Museum
884:The New York Times
802:The New York Times
611:The New York Times
519:The New York Times
481:The New York Times
113:The New York Times
65:Yale School of Art
36:and was awarded a
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215:My Mother, My Son
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27:Mary E. Frey
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1022:1948 births
669:"Mary Frey"
642:"Mary Frey"
275:Exhibitions
247:Collections
88:The series
75:Photography
981:Categories
945:2021-04-24
921:2021-04-24
897:2021-04-24
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362:2021-04-23
332:References
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810:0362-4331
619:0362-4331
527:0362-4331
489:0362-4331
419:Mary Frey
390:0190-8286
239:from the
100:wrote in
71:in 1979.
859:Aperture
448:masslive
181:Blue Sky
141:Educator
183:, 2014.
125:weight.
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235:1984:
230:Awards
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415:"Bio"
888:ISSN
806:ISSN
748:Time
615:ISSN
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485:ISSN
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219:ISBN
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103:Time
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