The compelling pieces, and they are truly compelling, are a group of images by Mary Lesser.
In a series of mixed-media works, Lesser focuses on the immigrant experience to address issues of history, family, survival and memory.
The thing that makes these pictures especially evocative is
Lesser’s ability to deal with universal concerns through specific
images.
...
Just as the physical properties of the materials are multi-layered, the narratives also speak to layered meanings.
Rich in the preservation of the past, they reflect the passage of time: the good and the bad, that has led to this moment before the camera, the subjects’ lives becoming part of the archive of universal memory.
—Judy Birke, Art Critic, The New Haven Register, August 2004
