Somerville artist Iaritza Menjivar’s Untitled, 2024. Courtesy of the artist.

Manos, Johnson, Menjivar show at Leica Gallery Boston

The Leica Gallery Boston is honored to present SEEING ACROSS GENERATIONS, a landmark exhibition celebrating three generations of Boston-area photographers whose work spans decades of image-making, mentorship, and community engagement.

In honor of the Leica I’s centenary, this exhibition brings together the distinct yet interconnected practices of Constantine Manos, Stella Johnson, and Somerville’s own Iaritza Menjivar – each of whom has used the Leica M camera to document the world through a lens shaped by their individual perspectives and identities.

The exhibition centers Manos’ iconic series The Bostonians, originally created fifty years ago to celebrate the American Bicentennial, now intimately reveals how time has shaped the changing city. Through images of Franklin Park, Government Center, Parades, and more, these prints show how he was able to carefully document the dynamic nature of Boston’s historic neighborhoods and diverse communities.

Constantine Manos, Man sunning himself on Fourth of July, Government Center, 1976. Courtesy of Robert Klein Gallery.

Known for his sharply composed images, Manos’s work turns the quotidian into something striking and unexpected, asking us to look, then look again. As the first artist to exhibit at Leica Gallery Boston, and with his passing in January of this year, this exhibition stands as a powerful tribute to his enduring legacy.

Stella Johnson’s images bring viewers to Revere Beach and beyond, offering layered, richly observed photographs that explore public space, connection, and joy across cultures. Her work reflects a deep belief in the beauty and necessity of communal life, tracing how interaction and congregation have evolved in response to the shifting demands of modern society, with Boston and other cities as the backdrop for this exploration. A student and close friend of Manos, Johnson’s formal precision echoes his influence, yet her work pulses with movement, spontaneity, and intimacy.

Representing our emerging generation, Iaritza Menjivar brings a vibrant, contemporary perspective to this lineage. Drawing on themes of identity, migration, and belonging, her photographs look toward the future of photography where personal and collective histories meet. Influenced by her close collaboration with Johnson, Menjivar’s images are bold and emotionally resonant, looking to an interest in light, ambiguity, and often featuring her partner and family as subjects.

Like Manos, she uses visual disruption to reframe perception, but where he makes the familiar strange, she delves into transformation using color and shadow as tools to reveal new ways of being. Her photographs are deeply personal but never isolated, anchored in memory, identity, and the shifting boundaries between self and community.

Presented together in conversation, these bodies of work illuminate a continuum: a shared commitment to documenting life and human connection across time. From Boston to Somerville, Revere Beach and beyond, SEEING ACROSS GENERATIONS reveals how three artists, across eras, have used the Leica camera to witness, remember, and reimagine the world around them.

The exhibition will open to the public on Thursday, July 17, from 6 to 8 p.m. during the opening reception. A panel discussion with Stella Johnson and Iaritza Menjivar about the exhibition will take place on Saturday, July 26, from 12 to 2 p.m.

SEEING ACROSS GENERATIONS will be on view at the Leica Gallery Boston through September 14, 2025.

Stella Johnson, Seagull, Revere Beach, MA. 2021. Courtesy of the artist.