Tender Moments/Trying Times - Jacquie Spector
In her first solo show, Boston-area photographer Jacquie Spector brings her emotionally evocative images of newborns and their parents to the MATV Gallery in an exhibit called Tender Moments/Trying Times, running June 4th to July 11th. Spector, who recently had work featured in the curated MATV Gallery show SURFACE.value, fleshes out the relationship between parents and their newborns by not only illuminating the special bond developing but also acknowledging the episodes during which fatigue and crying babies make for challenging times. Knowing first hand that the transition to first-time parent involves a range of emotions, Spector believes that these less-photographed, less-public moments offer a more realistic and insightful glimpse into the early parent/child experience.
Although much of her work is in black & white, Spector shoots all her work in color. Only after reviewing the individual shots does she decide which images would most benefit from the simpler, less-distracting nature of black & white photographs, to better convey both the beauty of the subject and the emotion inherent in the image. Spector shoots with a Nikon D80 digital camera, and she uses Photoshop for image adjustment.
Starting out as a business major in college, this Michigan native soon realized she was better suited to photography, and she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from Michigan State University. She began her successful career with a boudoir photography studio before turning to traveling and photographing around the world. Eventually settling in London for 15 years, Spector went in a new direction by earning a Master’s degree in social anthropology from the London School of Economics, which led to a 10-year career in documentary filmmaking. This producer and director’s television documentaries, which have been seen on the Discovery Channel and on England’s BBC, addressed such topics as amnesia, brain injuries, morgues, and the impact of 9/11 on both survivors and families who lost relatives.
This emotionally challenging work, however, left Spector ready to pick up her camera in search of life’s brighter moments—a desire that, coupled with her own pregnancy, motivated her to focus on maternity, children, and family portraiture. She returned to the United States in 2005, the year she also gave birth to daughter Teagan, who continues to inspire the photographer’s work. She runs her own business, Spector Photography (www.spectorphotography.com), and has work on display in the Isis Maternity shops. With an eye toward developing an artistic oeuvre, Spector contributed a piece to the Boston Photography Society’s juried Summer Exhibition '06 and has displayed work at Gallery 181 in Lawrence.
Tender Moments/Trying Times will be on view from June 4 through July 11. Exhibit hours are Monday–Thursday, 10am-9pm; Friday, 10am-6pm; and Saturday, 10am-2pm. Handicapped accessible, Malden Access Television is located at 145 Pleasant St. in Malden Square.
(Interview and text by Leslie A. Weston)
Gallery Spotlight - "Tender Moments / Trying Times"
Gallery Spotlight is the companion video program for the MATV Gallery. Click "Play" to view the 12-minute video accompaniment to this exhibit.
