PORTLAND — The Union of Maine Visual Artists is pleased to host the upcoming exhibition: “Empty Spaces: A New Normal”,with fifteen photographic artworks by Natalie E. Brown and a collaborative multimedia work section by selected members of the Portland Community. The collection went live at UMVA Gallery@PMC (Portland Media Center), 516 Congress Street on March 1 and will be on display through the 27th. The gallery will be accessible during limited hours for appointment scheduled viewing, and the duration of the month online.  Call ahead to book in person visits at least 24 hours in advance. Hours: 1-5 p.m. Saturdays  and Sundays. Natalie E. Brown: 719-465-6165

Brown says that the exhibition “features her black and white photographs capturing reflective moments of subjects from Portland to Europe.” Also exhibited are the work of other young artists from across Maine, each of them capturing and interpreting COVID-19 global pandemic. Show curator Brown adds, “The collection addresses the impact of the pandemic on both tourism and everyday life in the world; it seeks to illustrate the eerie silence all around us; but, also shows the beauty of that stillness and an overtake of nature in an otherwise turbulent time.”

Brown’s work – all b/w photographs prints – explores the first harsh months of the pandemic in Western Europe, where she lived at the time. “My hope is that viewers of the collection feel both a comforting sense of similarity and become aware of any differences they may find between themselves and the images taken half a world away.” As curator, she “left the floor open” for the other multimedia artists to express their responses to the pandemic, reflecting its effect on them and the lives of others in communities across the state. Brown hopes their collective effort “creates a new and hybridized form of community and dialogue between people experiencing a period in time where isolationism is at the forefront of our daily lives.” 

To learn more, or visit the UMVA Gallery@PMC, visit https://www.theumva.org/umva-gallery-exhibitions

For further information about UMVA and Membership visit https://www.theumva.org/.

The UMVA is a statewide organization of artists and arts supporters who work for social progress in and through the arts.