The MC Erny Gallery at WHQR is pleased to feature Passages: A portrait of Cuba and passenger trains in the American South: work by Christina Beam and Karen Healy. Meet the artists, view their striking work, and enjoy wine and light refreshments with WHQR staff. Join us in the MC Erny Gallery for this exciting event on Friday, March 22 from 6-9 pm for the Opening Reception and April 26 for the Closing Reception.
We are grateful to Jan Brewington and Dram Tree Realty for sponsoring the 4th Friday Receptions at the MC Erny Gallery.
This exhibit brings together the documentary portraits that Beam created during her time in Havana, Cuba and selected photographs and audio recordings from Healy’s series, A Palette of Rust and Dreams, a vignette of a train journey depicting travelers and railroad workers bearing witness to a world and landscape touched by the railroad.
Both Beam and Healy create their portraits in collaboration with their subjects, who allow themselves to be documented in some of their most vulnerable and reflective moments. From the back of a Cuban rickshaw to an Amtrak train in New Orleans, “Passages” depicts our shared humanity and explores themes of belonging, uncertainty, and resilience.
About the Artists:
Christina Beam is a documentary photographer and writer based in North Carolina. As a journalist she has won multiple statewide and national awards for her storytelling, and her work has been published by the Associated Press and the New York Times. She also serves as Director of Communications for New Hanover County Schools.
Through her documentary projects she works to capture the full spectrum of the human experience and connect individual stories and experiences with local and societal issues.
Beam lives in Wilmington with her family.
Karen Healy is a documentary photographer and artist based in North Carolina. She has a Certificate in Documentary Arts from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University and a B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of Massachusetts.
Healy’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions. She is a 2019 Critical Mass Finalist and a 2019 recipient of the Durham Arts Council Ella Fountain Pratt Emerging Artists Award. Her work has been published in the Oxford American.
Through portraiture and environmental landscapes, Healy’s work explores quiet moments that illuminate the deeper story. She is most interested in long-form documentary projects, examining themes of identity, belonging and home.
Healy lives in Chapel Hill with her husband.