PORTLAND — PhoPa, a new gallery specializing in photographs and works on paper, is for the serious art lover. And its inaugural exhibit, works by gifted art photographer Melonie Bennett, a Lewiston native, fills the bill.

The title of exhibit indicates there will be no  euphemisms to describe its content. “Bad Ass,” features mural-sized black-and-white gelatin silver prints from Bennett’s time spent at the Standish bar Memory Lane Music Hall and on a week-long Caribbean cruise with bad-boy rapper Kid Rock and some of his fans. 

Each mural-size photograph is a museum piece. Each work shows people enjoying themselves in dance and celebrating life. Her people are not self-conscious in exploring the unknown. Each work has enormous energy and shows a special joy in life. Her photographs are like x-rays into the subconscious.

Asked about the title of her exhibit, Bennett said, “I had some difficult years, illness in the family and a divorce and the title of the exhibit expresses my struggle to be creative again by breaking free from constraints.” 

In search of creativity and a new balance in life, Bennett became interested in the music of Kid Rock. The photographs in the exhibit are important because they capture a segment of our society that many of us are not familiar with. They capture young people who have tattoos, are uninhibited and are searching for meaning in life.

This exhibit is well worth the trip to Portland to see it.

Bennett’s work is in the collections of museums across the state including the Portland Museum of Art, The Farnsworth Museum and Library and the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. She is well known in art circles for her earthy sense of humor and museum quality works. She has had spreads in Down East Magazine and is considered an important art photographer in the state of Maine. 

Bennett was born in Lewiston, Jan. 29, 1969, and educated in public schools and the Maine College of Art, graduating with a BFA in photography in 1991. She has been working as an art photographer for 22 years. She was motivated to go into the photography field to document her family and its sense of humanity including its humor. Humor an important part of Bennett’s unique style.

“I use two cameras; a Contact T3 and Pentax K 1000. They have a fixed, 35 millimeter lens which is a wide angle lens. I can get both people and environment in the frame that way. But I have to be really close to the subject I am taking.” Bennett continued,“On the Kid Rock Cruise I was in close proximity to everyone and people were enjoying themselves spontaneously.They were natural subjects.”

Bennett’s favorite work in the exhibit is titled, “Have the Courage to Live, Anyone Can Die,” a black-and-white gelatin silver print 13½ x 19¼. This work depicts two women from two different generations communicating together the same joy in life. A women in her mid-90s had won a bikini contest on the cruise and reflected the same energy and vitality as the younger woman in the photograph. Together they appeared ageless.

Another work titled, “Rock Band Singer, Memory Lane Music Hall,” a black-and-white gelatin silver print taken in 2010 depicts an entertainer dancing with a hula hoop.“This work was difficult to take because of the constant movement of the entertainer, but I captured her quickly,” Bennett said.

PhoPa is an important gallery to keep an eye on. It is a gallery devoted to exhibiting thought-provoking visions of life.

PhoPa is jointly directed by Bruce Brown, curator emeritus of the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, and Jon Edwards in partnership with the Maine Media Workshops + College, a nonprofit educational organization located in Rockport that offers year ’round workshops across the state for photographers, filmmakers and media artists, as well as offers an MFA degree in photography.

Bennett’s exhibit of 17 photographs will be on view at the PhoPa Gallery,  132 Washington Ave.  through March 30. Gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday.

Bennett will speak at the gallery at 2 p.m., Sunday, March 17. 

The gallery is open to the public free of charge.

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