On View: September 10th through November 3rd, 2026
Opening Reception: Thursday, September 10th, 6-8pm

RSVP to our reception here

Tilted / Straight brings together two distinctly different photographic perspectives on Boston, placing the precise, architectural photographs of Peter Vanderwarker in dialogue with the energetic abstractions of Fern L. Nesson.

For Vanderwarker, Boston's John Hancock Tower is both a subject and a work of art in its own right. Having photographed the building since 1975, he has returned to its distinctive geometry from a variety of vantage points, including aerial views made from helicopters and distant perspectives that are no longer possible as Boston's skyline has evolved. His photographs emphasize the tower's extraordinary structure: its vertical lines, reflective glass, sharp planes, and shifting relationship to the city around it. Yet even in their apparent simplicity, these straight shots reveal a changing Boston, preserving views that have been obscured by the city's continued growth.

Nesson approaches the city from an entirely different direction. Drawing on recognizable architectural elements, including the Hancock Tower's liquid-like glass facade, she isolates, tilts, fragments, and recontextualizes elements of Boston until the familiar becomes strange. Her photographs resist identification, transforming the city into a world of shape, movement, texture, and abstraction. Where Vanderwarker's photographs locate us precisely, Nesson's invite us to lose our bearings.

Together, the artists reveal two contrasting but complementary ways of seeing the same city. Vanderwarker emphasizes structure, balance, and place; Nesson emphasizes movement, ambiguity, and sensation. One makes Boston immediately recognizable, while the other makes it newly unfamiliar. Yet both look closely at the city's architecture and visual character, finding within its surfaces and structures something more than documentation.

Tilted / Straight is ultimately a conversation about how we see a city and how radically different a familiar place can become when viewed from another angle.

Fern L. Nesson

From Fern: “Peter Vanderwarker, a colleague and friend who has photographed our city over many years, has joined with me in this exhibition of photographs of Boston from our radically different points of view. Peter's photos nail it. His images tell you exactly where you are and often encompass the entire landscape. In his series of photos of the Hancock Tower, he celebrates the brilliance of its architecture and its intimate relationship with the surrounding city.

I offer another perspective. I convey Boston's energy. My images of our city are perplexing, often tilted or out of context, sometimes unidentifiable. As precise as Peter's, they eschew context. Stressing movement over balance and angularity over location, they express an equal but contrasting interest in Boston’s essential character.

In dialogue with each other, we make our city come alive.” -Fern L. Nesson, Artist

Peter Vanderwarker

From Peter: “I see the Hancock Tower as a work of art—a modernist mirror that reflects, distorts, and dramatizes the quirkiness of Boston. I have been photographing the building since 1975, when it was still covered in plywood, and have watched it become one of the defining landmarks of the city.

Designed by architect Harry Cobb, the tower was initially met with fierce resistance in Boston. Its eventual acceptance (and later recognition with the American Institute of Architects’ Twenty-Five Year Award) is a testament to the power of a bold design. Boston is a better city for having it.

Many of these photographs were made from a helicopter, where the downdrafts around the tower can be harrowing. Other views were photographed from MIT, about a mile away. Some of those perspectives are no longer possible as Boston’s skyline has changed and new buildings have obscured the view.

All of the photographs are unretouched, straight shots. I wanted to let the building’s geometry, reflections, and relationship to the city speak for themselves.” -Peter Vanderwarker, Artist