The Mary G. Hardin Center for Cultural Arts is proud to present Add|Mix|Fold, a solo exhibition by acclaimed photographer and social entrepreneur Nancy Richards Farese, on view from October 17, 2025, through January 10, 2026.
Organized by the Gadsden Cultural Arts Foundation, the exhibition examines the ways visual narratives, particularly photography, intersect with memory, culture, and social history.
In Add|Mix|Fold, Farese reimagines the act of picture-making as a layered, tactile practice. Drawing inspiration from the crafts of quilting, collage, and assemblage, her photographic works are folded, spliced, and recombined into new compositions that honor the artistry of women’s work while probing deeper questions of identity, place, and belonging. The resulting images investigate how memory and personal history can be cut apart, remixed, and reassembled, mirroring the complexity of both individual and collective cultural identity.
Farese’s practice is rooted in decades of work as a documentarian, philanthropist, and visual thinker. She is the founder of CatchLight, a nonprofit dedicated to harnessing the power of photography to drive social change, and has photographed around the world with a focus on themes of community, democracy, and human resilience. Her projects are held in significant collections and have been exhibited nationally, including recent presentations of her series Potential Space. With Add|Mix|Fold, Farese brings her investigations into more intimate territory, reflecting on the American South and the threads of craft, memory, and womanhood that shape it.
The Mary G. Hardin Center for Cultural Arts has been a cornerstone of the Gadsden community since 1990, presenting a wide range of exhibitions, performances, and educational programs that engage audiences across Northeast Alabama and beyond. The Foundation continues its commitment to fostering dialogue through the arts by showcasing innovative voices like Farese’s.
The exhibition will run from October 17, 2025 to January 10, 2026 at the Mary G. Hardin Center for Cultural Arts, located 501 Broad Street, Gadsden. For more information, please visit www.culturalarts.org or email info@nancyfarese.com
