DUNE SHACKS
OF PROVINCETOWN
Jane Paradise
Samuel Tager, Guest Curator
May 4 - July 30, 2023
"Once across the dunes we live in an exquisite unreality."
Hazel Hawthorne
author, dune shack dweller and doyenne
Kemp-Tasha Shack
"Curiosity and a sense of adventure led me to the backshore of Provincetown and the dune shacks. With the crash of ocean waves as a backdrop, I felt fully at peace here.
This is my primal landscape. I find comfort in the bare land hiding a bounty of living organisms that thrive despite harsh conditions. I spent childhood summer vacations here, running up and down the vast dunes. Later, as an adult seeking seclusion, I wandered the stark landscape, surprised to find the mirage of dune shacks seemingly appearing out of nowhere. I began to wonder about their occupants, the determined sojourners who braved the arduous, sandy trek to reach their homes. I also wondered what the shacks looked like inside. This began my dune shack journey: ten years of research, photo shoots, friendships, an artist residency, and more than a dozen overnight stays— all of which culminated in this book."
- Jane Paradise
from the introduction to DUNE SHACKS OF PROVINCETOWN
The exhibition DUNE SHACKS of PROVINCETOWN (May 4 - July 30, 2023) is based on photographer Jane Paradise's book by the same name, published in late 2023 by Schiffer Publishing. Samuel Tager of Provincetown is the guest curator of this stunning exhibition at the Cape Cod Museum of Art.
The book is both a monograph of 90+ interpretive color photographs by Jane Paradise and a cultural history of the shacks as told by the people who stayed there. Excerpts of conversation and insights from both historical and contemporary voices illuminate and reverberate with the photographs that explore exteriors and interiors of current shacks, as well as the breathtaking and isolated surrounding dune landscapes and ocean. Paradise created this work during artist residencies and visits in different shacks over more than a decade. She worked with Creative Director Joanne Dugan in developing and designing this book.
Together, Paradise and Tager selected 50 photos and 18 quotations from the book to be included in this exhibition at the Cape Cod Museum of Art.
LIMITED EDITION ARCHIVAL PIGMENT PRINTS
All of the framed, limited edition, archival pigment prints in the exhibition are available for purchase. Please ask the front desk for a program/price list or download one here. Images purchased must remain in the exhibition until its conclusion on July 30.
Thanks to the incredible generosity of Jane Paradise, 100% of the price of all framed prints sold during the exhibition will be donated to the Cape Cod Museum of Art. The Museum is deeply grateful to Jane for her support and touched by her kindness.
The hardcopy book,
DUNE SHACKS OF PROVINCETOWN
is available in the CCMOA Museum Shop
for $34.99 +tax.
Photo by Pat Medina
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Jane Paradise
An internationally recognized photographer and Provincetown resident, Jane Paradise captures the profound and intimate connections between people and their environments.
She is represented by Alden Gallery in Provincetown MA and Galatea Fine Art in Boston. Her photographs have been featured and exhibited in solo shows at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester MA, Art Space in Raleigh NC, Gallery Ehva in Provincetown, Simmons College in Boston MA and Houston Center for Photography. Internationally Paradise has shown at the International Biennial of Fine Art and Documentary Photography (Argentina, Spain and Germany), and the Gallery of Photography in Ireland. Paradise was a 2017 and 2014 Photolucida finalist.
Paradise’s work has been included and received honors in numerous juried shows including at the New Britain Museum of American Art, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Southeast Museum of Photography, Danforth Art New England Photo Biennial, Cambridge Art Association National Prize Show, the Center for Fine Art Photography, the Worldwide Photo Biennial and RayKo Gallery in San Francisco.
She has curated shows at Galatea Fine Art and the Provincetown Art Association and Museum including the 2022 Rowland Scherman: Spirit of the 60’s, 2016 Elman+ Holt: The Outer Cape Colony as well as the 2015 After Images show by Amy Arbus and the upcoming 2023 show of artist Elisabeth Pearl.
Her photographs have been published in magazines and are published in the book Strength and Grace: Elegy for Love and in Summertime, a Chronicle book. Her Provincetown dune shack portfolio was featured in Still Points Arts Quarterly and ArtScope Magazine.
Her photographs are in the collection of the Southeast Museum of Photography and in many private collections in the United States and Europe.
Samuel Tager
Samuel Tager has been developing, designing, producing, and installing museum and gallery exhibitions as well as designing and managing major museum and gallery renovations, for the past twenty five years. He served as Director of Exhibitions at Harvard University's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and more recently as the Assistant Director and Senior Designer for Harvard’s, newly formed, Museums of Science and Culture.
In 2020, Tager became the founding Executive Director of the Provincetown Public Art Foundation and since that time has guest-curated and designed exhibitions for numerous local institutions including the Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM), The Cape Cod Museum of Art (CCMoA) The Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum (PMPM), Harvard Law School, and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, in Boston. Tager also writes for and serves on the board directors of Provincetown Arts Press.