Photograph with a deep black background and a plexi house in the foreground filled with objects. This one is filled with red, blue, and white objects, confetti, a wood round pedestal, and a red hat.

October 9th, 2021 - March 6th, 2022

Sally Brecher’s Glass Houses

Brecher photographs ordinary objects found at home and arranged as still life compositions as a meditation on our experiences over the past year. With the house as a symbol of confinement, she explores ways the pandemic could transition from a purely terrifying experience to a more playful or creative one. Drawing on the experience of isolation and confinement from a childhood illness, Brecher’s object portraits focus on simple elements and ask the viewer to contemplate the ways in which artists breathe life into objects and why that matters.

A photographic still life tells a story through objects; in Sally Brecher’s Glass Houses, each house tells a different tale of the pandemic experience. Over the past year and a half our physical world shrank, and the objects in our homes moved into sharper focus. Brecher’s assemblages are intentionally small. She limited her constructions to objects that could fit into 3” square glass containers, which serve as a symbol of confinement. At the same time, her houses are transparent, perhaps mirroring the way we were all pointedly aware of the presence of those isolating in our homes with us.

The Danforth is pleased to have Glass Houses on loan to the Museum where they can be shown in conversation with still life and assemblage from the permanent collection.

Gallery: Hallway

Dates: October 9th, 2021 - March 6th, 2022

Participating artists: Sally Brecher