Our new show, The Beauty Ritual, is a project by Phyllis Ewen, who began exploring the neighborhood beauty salon in the 1970s as a place where women could be cared for—a respite from the care they so often provided for others. What began at a salon called Dee’s grew to include similar places in Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and California.
Looking at these photographs today, the work feels particularly relevant. We talk more openly about caregiving, emotional labor, and the need for connection, but the need to be cared for has not changed. Made nearly 50 years ago, these photographs show how an ordinary neighborhood salon could offer something essential: a place of care, connection, and respite.
I hope you’ll come by to see this work and consider how something photographed nearly 50 years ago can still speak so directly to our lives today.
The Beauty Ritual will be on view through November, with an opening and artist talk on Thursday, October 8, from 5:00–7:00 PM ET.