These haunting environmental portraits of essential workers during the depths of the COVID pandemic form an impressive debut show for photographer Selena Phillips-Boyle. The contrasts between the extreme lighting choices and the intense, hyper-fatigued gazes of their subjects are deeply compelling and succeed in illuminating something about both that particular moment and also about the tiredness and precarity that many of us have lived with ever since.

As Albert Camus said about Sisyphus, “A face that toils so close to stones is already stone itself. I see [Sisyphus] going back down with a heavy yet measured step toward the torment of which he will never know the end.” Phillips-Boyle’s work insinuates that same tenacity and sheer stubbornness to keep helping in the face of exhausting repetition. The show is tribute to human courage drained of middle-class sentimentality and romanticism — it is definitely worth checking out. — G. Sewell

Phillips-Boyle was kind enough to do a short phone interview about the exhibit — see below. Opening reception and artists walk through are at Gallery 44 on Saturday, April 15 from 1-3pm.