The Photo Review Award
Toni Pepe’s (born 1981, Boston, MA; lives Boston) creative practice is grounded in photographic processes, memory, storytelling and identity, as seen through a feminist lens. She received an MFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology, NY in 2008 and an MLA in visual culture from Boston University in 2011. Pepe has exhibited both nationally and internationally including at the Center for Photography at Woodstock, Kingston, NY and Spilt Milk Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland. She has received multiple recognitions including being selected as a finalist for the Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship; being named among Critical Mass’ top 50 and Review Santa Fe’s 100; receiving an SPE Imagemaker Award; and is an Artist Trust Grant awardee. Her work is in the permanent collections at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Danforth Art Museum, Framingham State University, MA; Candela Books + Gallery, Richmond, VA; and the Magenta Foundation, Ontario, Canada; as well as many private collections. Pepe is currently chair and assistant professor of photography at Boston University where she has helped to build and launch a new MFA degree in Print Media and Photography.
Statement from the Artist:
Found photographs from both private and public collections play a crucial role in my practice. I use vernacular or press imagery to explore alternative notions of an archive, as well as different modes for collecting and preserving knowledge. I am interested in finding the possibilities and limitations of photography – how it can make us both remember and forget, make something feel entirely present and absent, and show us something beyond the frame.