August 25, 2021 — The following was released by the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center:

New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is pleased to announce the September 9 opening of its new exhibit, Women’s Work: At Sea, On Shore, At Home, In the Community. The exhibit will shine a light on the many roles women play in commercial fishing communities.

The public is invited to meet the featured photographers at an opening reception from 6:00-8:00 pm September 9; the exhibit will remain on view in the Center’s gallery through March 2022.

Through photographs and oral histories, the exhibit profiles more than sixty women from fishing communities in Massachusetts, Maine, and Rhode Island, and amplifies the voices and experience of women who work in what is often perceived to be a male-dominated world. The exhibit features the photography of Shareen Davis, Markham Starr, and Phil Mello, and draws on oral history interviews conducted over the past 15 years.

Visitors will meet women who work on deck as fishermen and scientists, on shore as welders and electricians, women who own businesses and boats, and women who advocate on behalf of the fishing industry. In addition, the exhibit explores topics ranging from “What do You Call a Woman who Fishes?” to “Women in Myths and Marketing.”

Photographer bios
Shareen Davis is a commercial and fine art photographer, a former photo editor and commercial fisherman and advocate. Her photography conveys political and environmental messages addressing issues of coastal fishing community workers as well as capturing the history, environment, and beauty of Chatham’s coastline. She is a 13th generation Cape Codder and resides in Chatham. Davis and her husband Ernie Eldredge owned a weir fishing business now owned by their daughter.

Markham Starr is a documentary photographer working in New England. Author of more than a dozen books and numerous documentary films, his photographs have been featured in magazines such as LensWork, Yankee, Vermont Magazine, and Rhode Island Monthly, and can be found in numerous museums in New England. His major projects are in the permanent collection at the Library of Congress.

Phillip Mello has worked on the New Bedford waterfront in a variety of capacities for 40+ years and has been taking photographs of fellow waterfront workers since 1975. As an insider with direct knowledge of the fishing industry he has access to what is often a closed community. He was the photographer for the Fishing Heritage Center’s 2016 Archie Green project, Workers on the New Bedford Waterfront. His images for that project are presently on display at the American Folklife Center and archived at the Library of Congress.

The Center is also presenting a year-long series of films, talks, performances, and demonstrations in conjunction with the exhibit, which are designed to engage visitors in exploring the lives, skills, and experiences of women who work in the fishing industry as well as those who are connected through family. Learn more about these programs on the Center’s online calendar, fishingheritagecenter.org/programs/calendar.

Women’s Work: At Sea, On Shore, At Home, In the Community is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Women’s Fisheries Network, the Mass Cultural Council, and the Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Marion, Mattapoisett, New Bedford, and Westport Cultural Councils.

Please contact programs@fishingheritagecenter.org with any questions.