Today's hours:
10 am–5 pm
Monday
10 am–5 pm
Tuesday
Closed
Wednesday
Closed
Thursday
10 am–5 pm
Friday
10 am–5 pm
Saturday
10 am–5 pm
Sunday
10 am–5 pm
Monday
10 am–5 pm
Tuesday
Closed
Wednesday
Closed
Thursday
10 am–5 pm
Friday
10 am–5 pm
Saturday
10 am–5 pm
Sunday
10 am–5 pm
For more than 40 years, Olivia Parker has explored the relationships between vision, knowledge and the natural world.
From deceptively simple still lifes that transform the commonplace to her most recent work exploring memory loss, this is the first exhibition to present a comprehensive overview of Parker’s extensive career. Order of Imagination: The Photographs of Olivia Parker features more than 100 intricately composed works that reflect the artist’s wide creative range and unflagging curiosity.
Order of Imagination: The Photographs of Olivia Parker is organized by the Peabody Essex Museum. Generous support for this exhibition is provided by Susan and Appy Chandler, Carolyn and Peter S. Lynch and The Lynch Foundation, Jennifer and Andrew Borggaard and Kate and Ford O'Neil. We also recognize the generosity of the East India Marine Associates of the Peabody Essex Museum.
Share your impressions with us on social media using #PEMparker
Media Partner
Northshore Magazine
Olivia Parker, Shell in a Landscape, 2011. Inkjet print. © Olivia Parker
Olivia Parker, Child, 1980. Dye diffusion print. © Olivia Parker
Olivia Parker, Orchids from the Ephemera Portfolio, 1977. Gelatin silver print. © Olivia Parker
Olivia Parker, Order of Imagination, 1991. Gelatin silver print. © Olivia Parker
Olivia Parker, Evidence, 1977. Gelatin silver print. © Olivia Parker
©2019 Peabody Essex Museum, Photo by Kathy Tarantola/PEM.
Olivia Parker, Sea Creatures, 2014. Inkjet print. © Olivia Parker
©2019 Peabody Essex Museum, Photo by Kathy Tarantola/PEM.
Olivia Parker, Honeymoon, 2016. Inkjet print. © Olivia Parker
©2019 Peabody Essex Museum, Photo by Kathy Tarantola/PEM.
Curator Interview
Sarah Kennel, PEM's Byrne Family Curator of Photography, discusses Olivia Parker's life and work.
Exhibition catalogue
This volume, the definitive study of Parker’s career, includes curator Sarah Kennel’s detailed artistic biography and poet and essayist Rachel Hadas’s reflections on art’s ability to offer solace amidst grief. More than one hundred beautifully illustrated works, many of which are published here for the first time, are accompanied by Parker’s lyrical reflections on her art and process.
Keep exploring
