The Dana Hall Art Gallery is showcasing photographs by Boston-based photographer Paula Lerner. Afghan Stories will run through February 3. An opening reception will take place on Tuesday, January 10 from 5-7:30 p.m. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

In 2005 and 2006, Paula traveled to Afghanistan three times to document the programs of the Business Council for Peace, an organization that helps women in post-conflict countries set up self-sustaining businesses. Her work earned her a VERA (Volunteer Excellence Recognition Award). In 2007 and 2009 she traveled to Kandahar, the capital of southern Afghanistan, to work on a long-term project on women there. Later that year, she collaborated with the Toronto Globe and Mail to create “Behind the Veil,” an Emmy-award winning multimedia feature about women in Kandahar. Her work from these projects is on display in the Dana Hall Art Gallery.

Lerner’s passion for photographing people has taken her all over the world. She has been commissioned by a wide variety of national and international clients in addition to pursuing her own projects. Bright Horizons, Harvard, MIT, Boston University, Children's Hospital Boston, and The Commonwealth Fund are among her corporate and advertising clients. Lerner’s personal work has been shown in venues throughout the northeast and has been part of national traveling exhibits.

In her artist statement Lerner says, “My goal is connection: my connection with the people I photograph lets the viewer connect with my pictures. My passion is people: people endlessly fascinate me, and I am driven to capture them in photographs. My task is to find or create those fleeting moments when content aligns with art and then quietly pounce on them. This is my challenge, and I strive to meet it with energy, empathy, intelligence and wit.”

The Dana Hall Art Gallery provides a program of exhibitions by local and visiting artists throughout the academic year for the Dana Hall and surrounding communities. The Gallery is open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. and Wednesday and Friday 9 a.m.-1 p.m. It is closed weekends and school holidays.  

View photos from this exhibit.