An exhibition exploring the lives and histories of recent immigrants to Maine, called “New Mainers: Portraits of Our Immigrant Neighbors,” is now on view at the Brick Store Museum in its contemporary Bauman Family Gallery. The collection of photo portraits were taken by Maine fine art photographer Jan Pieter van Voorst van Beest, who published a photo book of the same name in 2009. The exhibition holds 26 portraits of recent immigrants to Maine from all over the world, and shares stories from their lives.
A native of the Netherlands, Jan Pieter van Voorst van Beest has resided in Maine since 1970. He started in photography in the early seventies after taking courses at the Portland School of Art. He also studied at the Maine Photographic Workshops with Joyce Tenneson and Arnold Newman. He photographed in a wide variety of geographical locations including the U.S, Europe, South and Central America and the West Indies.
He has shown his work in solo exhibits, while he also participated in group and juried shows at, among others, the Bowdoin College Art Museum, The Art Gallery at the University of Southern Maine, The Alexander Gallery at Westbrook College, the Danforth Gallery, The Portland Museum of Art, the Gallery at the University of New England and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art. His book: “New Mainers, Portraits of our Immigrant Neighbors”, was published in February 2009, by Tilbury House Publishers.