Creating Humanism and Community, The Work of Stephen DiRado
Stephen DiRado, Mikel and Brenda, Bell Pond, Worcester, MA, 1983
Bell Pond documents the summer of 1983 at a public swimming pond in Worcester, Massachusetts, where DiRado spent months photographing the community that gathered there. Arriving one afternoon on a whim during an early heat wave, he introduced himself to anyone willing to pay attention—and kept coming back. Working with a large-format camera on a tripod, he distributed prints, and slowly became part of the community's fabric, earning the trust of those who might otherwise have had little reason to give it. That trust was hard won and freely returned—by summer's end, DiRado had become a fixture, his daily arrival an event in itself.
The resulting portraits are unparalleled in their intimacy—and together they build a vivid portrait of the place and its inhabitants. DiRado moved between families, friends, couples, and individuals—capturing the textures of a working-class community that claimed Bell Pond as its own. The work is a timestamp of a world before the internet and the endless digital reproduction of likenesses. Through DiRado's lens, these lives are given weight and permanence—crystallized on film in a way the world around them rarely afforded. Whole stories exist within each frame, and the mystery of what we'll never fully know pushes to the foreground. DiRado stayed close to many of his subjects long after that summer ended, invested in them as people, not just as photographs.
What runs through every image is DiRado's deep humanism. These are people society too often passes over, and here they are seen clearly, without sentimentality, and without looking away.
There is a quiet power in Stephen DiRado’s Bell Pond Series—a body of work that has become deeply woven into the visual history and emotional landscape of Worcester and across the Atlantic, appearing in leading photography, art and media publications in Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and France. As a world-renowned photographer and Guggenheim Fellow, Stephen has an extraordinary ability to look closely, to see what others might pass by, and to transform place, memory, and human experience into photographs that not only stay with you but represent cultural moments that resonate. What I admire most about Stephen is that his impact extends far beyond his photographic work. For decades, he has built community through his teaching and his generosity, inspiring thousands of students at Clark University to think more deeply, look more carefully, and understand the transformative possibilities of art. His beautiful influence is part of Worcester’s creative DNA and many photographers walking this world are richer because of Stephen’s creative network, which he generously shares.
We are especially proud to call Stephen DiRado a dear friend and to have his work represented in the soft opening of Juniper Rag Contemporary Gallery. His generous decision to contribute a photograph is, to me, another beautiful example of his enduring commitment to community and to the arts in our hometown of Worcester. At a moment when Stephen’s work is also being celebrated in New York City with his exhibition currently on view at KAPOW Gallery, it feels particularly meaningful to have him standing with us here at home. Through all of his work and seeing his commitments to friends and strangers, we believe Stephen has always understood that art is not simply something we look at—it is something that connects us, challenges us, and gives us a deeper sense of where we belong, the trials and challenges we face and how much having a strong creative community around us is what living a creative life is all about.
That spirit is at the heart of Juniper Rag. Stop by the gallery to meet Mikel and Brenda, through the lens of Stephen DiRado.
Stephen DiRado
Mikel and Brenda, Bell Pond, MA, 1983
7.6"x 9.5" on 11" x 14" Archival Pigment Paper
Printed by the artist 2026, from a negative 1983
$600.00
19" x 16" Maple wood Frame, White
Custom made by the artist
$350.00
