Born in Manhattan, New York in 1939,Melissa Shook grew up in Port Washington on Long Island. When she was 12 she lost her mother, and this and subsequent events led to a rare type of memory loss of her entire childhood. On her 20th birthday, when she was a student at Bard College, her father gave her a Pentax camera. She started taking photographs but didn't become serious about it until she took the course "Photography of Human Behavior" by Columbia University lecturer Paul Byers. Byer's theory that photographs reveal something about the photographer impressed her.
At Bard, Shook met Darryl Clegg the father of her daughter Krissy. In around 1964 Shook began photographing Darryl and then Krissy from age one. When her daughter was three, Shook went back to finish her education at Goddard College, Vermont, where she met photographer, Will Faller. He and his wife Marion, also a photographer, and their son "Little Will" lived in Lower Manhattan as did Melissa and Krissy, and the two families became close friends. Shook used Faller's darkroom and with his help improved her darkroom skills.
In 1972, while teaching photography at a private high school and several colleges, Shook committed to documenting herself daily in her apartment, sometimes with her daughter, friends, and pet cat. Her insecurity as a single mother raising a biracial child and her obsession to keep her memory vivid and intact for her daughter were the main drives for this artistic mission. Over the next 8 months, Melissa developed a remarkably fertile personal landscape.
Her work, published in Camera 35 Magazine, attracted the attention of MoMA curator John Szarkowski, and he purchased a dozen prints for their collection in 1975. The following year, Shook moved to Boston, in part to raise her daughter in a better environment, and got a job as the first female photography instructor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1979 she joined the Arts & Art History Department at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, to teach photography for 31 years, leaving an indelible mark on generations of students.
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1939 |
Born in New York, NY |
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1979-2005 |
Associate Professor, Art Department, University of Massachusetts Boston, MA (Continued teaching photography part-time through 2012) |
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1974 -1977 |
Creative Photography Laboratory, MIT, Cambridge, MA |
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2020 |
Died in Chelsea, MA |
SOLO EHIBITIONS
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2022 |
Melissa Shook: Early Self-Portraits 1972-1973, Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery, New York, NY |
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2022 |
Melissa Shook: Inside & Out, University Hall Gallery, Walter Grossman Memorial Gallery at the Healey Library, University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA |
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2019 |
Clutter and There’s no reason to think…, Atlantic Works Gallery, Boston, MA |
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2017 |
Daily Self-Portraits by Melissa Shook, Joseph Bellows Gallery, La Jolla, CA |
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1995 |
Aging, The Trustman Art Gallery, Simmons College, Boston, MA |
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1995 |
Streets Are For Nobody: Photographs and Excerpted Interviews of Homeless Women In Boston, Cleveland and Tucson, Towne Art Gallery, Wheelock College, Boston, MA |
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1993 |
Streets Are For Nobody, Metroland Medical Center, Cleveland, OH; Mandel School for Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve, Cleveland, OH; Ohio University, Lancaster, OH; Hamilton Williams Campus Center, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, OH; The Ocasek Building Atrium, Akron, OH; Lorain County Community College, Elyria, OH |
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1992 |
Streets Are For Nobody, Mather Gallery, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH |
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1991 |
Streets Are For Nobody, Homeless Women Speak, Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA |
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1990 |
1701 James Street, Onondaga County Public Library, Syracuse, NY |
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1989 |
1701 James Street, Mather Gallery, Case Western Reserve, Cleveland, OH |
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1986 |
Krissy, Work Space Gallery, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO |
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1984 |
Melissa Shook, Silver Bullet Gallery, Providence, RI |
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1978 |
Krissy, Foto Gallery, New York, NY |
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1976 |
Krissy, MIT Creative Photography Gallery, Cambridge, MA |
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1975 |
Daily Self-Portraits, Photographs and Drawings, MIT Creative Photography Gallery, Cambridge, MA |
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1975 |
Melissa Shook (daily self-portraits), Foto Gallery, New York, NY |
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
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2023 |
Title TBD, Patinoire Royale | Galerie Valérie Bach, Brussels, Belgium |
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2023 |
Drawing to the Light: 50 Years of Photography at Maine Media Workshops + College, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME |
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2012-2013 |
An Elevated View: The Orange Line, Wiggin Gallery, Boston Public Library, Boston, MA |
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2010 |
Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY |
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2010 |
Ater Till Verkligheten, Arbetets museum, Norrkoping, Sweden |
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2009 |
Reality Revisited: Photography from the Moderna Museet Collection, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden |
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2009 |
Taking a Different Tack: Maggie Sherwood and the Floating Foundation of Photography, Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, State University of New York, New Paltz, NY |
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2005 |
Essex Art Center Annual Juried Show, Essex Center, Lawrence, MA. (Showed 80 clay small clay nude female figures from “Clay,” with a grid of digitally printed self-portraits.) Won one of six juror prizes judged by Howard Yeserski |
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2002 |
Show: The Flag, Armory Northwest Gallery, Pasadena, CA. (A grid of five digitally printed images from each of the eight members of www.umb.edu/flaggingspirits) |
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2002 |
6 months/a memorial, Photographic Resource Center, Boston, MA. (A web-based collective response to 9/11, a project started by Sally Stein and Melissa Shook |
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1997 |
Making Pictures: Women and Photography, 1975 - Now, In dialogue: New England Women and Photography, Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, MA |
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1994 |
Time Recorded: Reflections on Aging, Spaces, Cleveland, OH |
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1994 |
View From a Small Opening: An exhibition of contemporary pinhole photographs, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI |
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1993 |
Family Matters: An Exhibition of Works by Sally Mann, Vince Leo, Melissa Shook and Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Northlight Gallery, School of Art, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ (catalog) |
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1993 |
Melissa Shook, Peter Smith, Joseph Rodriguez, The Department of Photography, Tisch School of Arts, New York University |
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1992 |
Anxious Art, Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, MA |
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1990 |
Seven Photographers on Transportation, State Transportation Building, Boston, MA (catalog) |
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1987 |
Along the El, (The Orange Line Project), State Transportation Building, Boston, MA; The Boston Public Library, Boston, MA |
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1985 |
A Human Portrait: Five Contemporary American Photographers, Shelby Lee Adams, Debbie Fleming Caffery, Mark Goodman, Ken Light and Melissa Shook, Zoller Gallery, Penn State School of Visual Arts, Penn State University, State College, PA |
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1984 |
Twelve on 20x24, (Premier installation of touring exhibition of 20x24 Polaroid photographs, program coordinated by the Museum School Gallery), Boston, MA (catalog) |
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1984 |
Massachusetts Photographers: 1984, (Exhibition of 33 photographers sponsored by The Cambridge Arts Council), Federal Reserve Bank Gallery, Cambridge, MA |
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1981 |
Se dig om i gladge, (Look Back in Joy: Six Photographers, Six Temperaments), Fotografiska Museet, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden (catalog) |
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1979 |
A Photographic Exhibition by The Four Faculty Members of The MIT Creative Photography Laboratory, MIT Creative Photography Gallery, Cambridge, MA, MA |
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1978 |
Tusen och en bild (Thousand and One Image), Fotografiska Museet, Stockholm, Sweden |
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1976 |
Photography: Recent Acquisitions 1974-1976, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY |
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1975 |
Hollis Frampton, Nostalgia; Robert Hout, Diary Paintings; Melissa Shook, Daily Self-Portraits, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY |
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1972 |
Three-Person Show, Soho Photo Gallery, New York, NY |
AWARDS
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2012 |
LCC Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant, Chelsea, MA |
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2011 |
LCC Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant and a Chelsea Community Fund Grant, Chelsea, MA |
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1990 |
MassProductions Grant |
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1988 |
Massachusetts Council Community Grant |
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1988 |
Massachusetts Lottery Grant |
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1985 |
National Endowment of the Arts Visual Fellowship |
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1984 |
The Museum School/Polaroid Foundation. |
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1981-1999 |
Various grants from the University of Massachusetts, Harbor Campus, Boston, MA |
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1981 |
Swedish Government Travel Grant (for lecture, "Mote med Fotografi," at Fotografiska Museet, Stockholm, Sweden) |
COLLECTIONS
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Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, France |
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Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA |
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The Center for Photography at Woodstock, Woodstock, NY, USA |
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Cincinnati Art Museum, OH, USA |
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Federation for Community Planning, Cleveland, OH, USA |
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Fotografiska Museet, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden |
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Harvard Art Museums, MA, USA |
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Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, NH, USA |
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Lawrence History Center, Lawrence, MA, USA |
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Light Work, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA |
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Médiathèque Benjamin-Rabier, La Roche-sur-Yon Agglomération, France |
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA |
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The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA |
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Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA |
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Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME, USA |
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Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, USA |
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Writing (selected)
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2014 |
“He Says, She Says, I Say, and Nobody Tells the Truth, Whatever That Is, on the Backside of Suffolk Downs,” a narrative by Melissa Shook, Turning Point |
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2012 |
“My Suffolk Downs,” 30 poems and 19 black and white photographs, Pressed Wafer and Kat Ran Press, Boston, MA |
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2010 |
“The Real Story,” a chapbook, 28 poems, Finishing Line Press, Georgetown, KY |
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2010 |
“Magritte’s Rider,” a chapbook, 30 poems, Pudding House Press Chapbook Series, Columbus, OH |
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2010 |
“Near,” Ellen La Forge Memorial Poetry Foundation: honorable mention, Boston, MA |
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2004 |
“The Real Story,” Family Reunion, Poems about Parenting Grown Children, Chickory, Blue Press |
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1992 |
Excerpted Interviews from Streets Are For Nobody, Special Issue Homelessness: New England and Beyond, New England Journal of Public Policy, McCormack Institute of Public Affairs, University of Massachusetts Boston, Spring/Summer 1992 |
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1989 |
“On Photographing the Homeless, II,” Art and Artists, Volume 17, Number 6, Dec.1988/Jan.1989, The Foundation for the Community of Artist, New York, NY, 1989, pages 101-104 |
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1983 |
“A Conversation with Roy DeCarava,” Views: The Journal of Photography in New England, Photographic Resource Center, Boston, MA, volume 4, Number 2, 1983, pages 9-13 |
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1981 |
“Disturbances: Callahan in Black-and-White and Color,“Camera Arts, New York, NY, May/June 1981 |
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1981 |
“Krissy's Xmas Present, Text and photographs by Melissa Shook,” Camera Arts, New York, NY, Jan/Feb 1981, pages 22-25 & 118 |
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1979 |
“Harry Callahan, Interviewed by Melissa Shook,” Picture Magazine, Los Angeles, CA, Issue #12, June/July 1979 |
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1977 |
“Callahan, Interviewed by Melissa Shook,” Photograph, New York, NY, Volume 1, No. 4, 1977, pages 1-4 & 37 |
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1975 |
“Consciousness Rising,” Camera 35, New York, NY, 1975 |
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1974 |
“Personal Politics,” Camera 35, New York, NY, January 1974 |
Exhibition Catalogs & Published Photographs (selected)
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2009 |
Taking a Different Tack: Maggie Sherwood and the Floating Foundation of Photography (exhibition catalog), Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, State University of New York, New Paltz, NY, pages 58-59 |
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1993 |
Family Matters: An Exhibition of Works by Sally Mann, Vince Leo, Melissa Shook and Philip-Lorca diCorcia (exhibition catalog), Northlight Gallery, School of Art, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, pages 11, 19 & 23 |
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1992 |
“Bleeding Heart and Three Stones,” 8x10 pinhole photograph, 1992. (with text), Pinhole Journal, Contemporary Images, Vol. 10 #1, Pinhole Resource, San Lorenzo, New Mexico, pages 6-7 |
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1985 |
Family: Tradition/Transition, Katherine E. Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minnesota (exhibition catalog) |
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1983 |
“A Special Bond,” Documentary Photography (Revised Edition), Life Library of Photography, Alexandria, VA, 1983, pages 216-219 |
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1983 |
Ameriskanskt, Bild, Nr. 2/83, Fotograficentrum, Stockholm, Sweden, pages 24-29 |
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1981 |
Se dig om i gladge (exhibition catalog), Fotografiska Museet, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden, pages 51-62 |
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1980 |
“Krissy Portraits,” Creative Camera, January 1980, No.187. London, England, cover & pages 20-25 |
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1975 |
“A Childhood Lost to Amnesia,” chapter 4 “The Mystery of Memory” (photographs from Port Washington Series), The Role of the Brain, Time-Life Books, Human Behavior, New York, NY, 1975, pages 101-107 |
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1974 |
“Melissa Shook,” Creative Camera, London, England, November 1974 |
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1974 |
“In Search of Melissa,” U.S. Camera/Camera 35 Annual (Personal Pictures issue), 1974, New York, NY, pages 140-159 |
Reviews
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2022 |
“Melissa Shook: Early Self-Portraits 1972-1973@ Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery”(exhibition review) by Loring Knoblauch, Collector Daily, October 5, 2022” |
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2022 |
“Melissa Shook: Early Self-Portraits 1972-1973 / Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery”(exhibition review) by Elyssa Goodman, Photograph, September 29, 2022 |
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1975 |
“One Woman Focuses on Herself” (exhibition review) by Owen Edwards, Village Voice, Oct. 12, 1975, page 109 |
PROJECTS
Videos
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2014 |
www.pennyanteproductions.com, a website devoted to interviews by folks who work on the backside of Suffolk Downs, 2006-2014 |
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2014 |
www.briarhillthoroughbreds.com, an interactive documentary about George Brown’s Thoroughbred breeding farm in Rohoboth, MA |
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2013 |
“Jimmy Sullivan – and that, too,” a video about Jimmy Sullivan’srecovery from profound memory loss after he was gay bashed in the early 1980s when he was a transvestite drug using and selling prostitute and his subsequent long and difficult recovery from almost all of his additions |
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2011 |
“Kemper and Me,” a video in which two seventy-year-olds, Kemper and me talk about our different memories, experiences, needs when I had an abortion before Roe v Wade and we were briefly married |
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2008 |
“Identity, Have Some,” Improvisations by Kristina Shook, concerning assumptions about ethnic identity |
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2007 |
“How to Fight, a portrait of Joyce Watson,” trt:47:33 A video about my friend from Guyana who worked three somewhat menial jobs to support her son and daughter and lived in a superintendent’s apartment in a wealthy section of Greenwich Village. Topics: race, education, expectations for children, money and class |
Short Videos: “Miriam,” 2015; “A Visit with Lee Loebelenz,” 2014; “Nance Comes to Visit,” 2013; “Homage to Sid Caesar”; “Porcelain Boxes”; “Nathan and NY”; “Krissy and her
Grandparents”; “Drawing Upon”; “Bedrock”
Others
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1997-2002 |
Board Member and President of the Homeless Empowerment Project, Chair, Editorial Committee. Writer, Photographer for SpareChange, a street newspaper. |
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1991 |
“Homeless Women Speak,” a forum with formerly homeless women as primary speakers, organized in conjunction with "Streets Are For Nobody, Homeless Women Speak" exhibition, Boston Center for the Arts, May 4, 1991. To encourage women who have had the experience of being homeless to help define the content of the roundtable discussions and become the experts who would speak from experience. Extensively funded. |
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1988-1989 |
“1701 James Street” an exhibition traveled to branches of the Cuyahoga County Library, sponsored by the Cuyahoga County Board of Mental Retardation and the Federation for Community Planning (January 1988 - July 1988) toured through Ohio sponsored by Ohio Public Images and the George Gund Foundation. |
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1987 |
“The Artist's Lens: A Focus on Relocation,”a two-year project sponsored by UrbanArts documenting the elevated Orange Line subway in the southwest corridor of Boston. Five photographers worked with students at the Humphrey Occupational Center to improve their skills and document the elevated structure, and the effects on the surrounding neighborhood of its removal. September 1985 - June 1987. |
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1984 |
“Musing On Our Lives,” a performance piece with videotape, Melissa Shook and Jeanne Lee, March 31, 1984. Sponsored by the Catskill Center for Photography, Arts-In-Action Coalition and grants from NEA, The New York State Council on the Arts and the IMB Corporation. |