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      Past Exhibition

      Order of Imagination: The Photographs of Olivia Parker

      On view July 13, 2019 to November 11, 2019

      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

      ABOVE: Olivia Parker, Sea Creatures (detail), 2014. Inkjet print. © Olivia Parker.
      Olivia Parker, Shell in a Landscape, 2011. Inkjet print. © Olivia Parker

      Olivia Parker, Shell in a Landscape, 2011. Inkjet print. © Olivia Parker

      Olivia Parker, Child, 1980. Dye diffusion 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, Orchids from the Ephemera Portfolio, 1977. Gelatin silver print. © Olivia Parker

      Olivia Parker, Order of Imagination, 1991. 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

      Olivia Parker, Evidence, 1977. Gelatin silver print. © Olivia Parker

      ©2019 Peabody Essex Museum, Photo by Kathy Tarantola/PEM.

      ©2019 Peabody Essex Museum, Photo by Kathy Tarantola/PEM.

      Olivia Parker, Sea Creatures, 2014. Inkjet print. © Olivia Parker

      Olivia Parker, Sea Creatures, 2014. Inkjet print. © Olivia Parker

      ©2019 Peabody Essex Museum, Photo by Kathy Tarantola/PEM.

      ©2019 Peabody Essex Museum, Photo by Kathy Tarantola/PEM.

      Olivia Parker, Honeymoon, 2016. Inkjet print. © Olivia Parker

      Olivia Parker, Honeymoon, 2016. Inkjet print. © Olivia Parker

      ©2019 Peabody Essex Museum, Photo by Kathy Tarantola/PEM.

      ©2019 Peabody Essex Museum, Photo by Kathy Tarantola/PEM.

      At their frequent best, these images are marvelousness made visible. Marvelousness is to be expected when, as here, invention and slyness and seemingly boundless curiosity come together."
      — The Boston Globe
      Sarah Kennel Curator Video
      Play

      Curator Interview

      Sarah Kennel, PEM's Byrne Family Curator of Photography, discusses Olivia Parker's life and work.

      Olivia Parker book

      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.

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      PEM presents the first retrospective of celebrated American photographer Olivia Parker

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